Vampire Papillon
by Count Morningstar
Summary: Two years after the events of the ZEXAL anime, an old crush from Shark's past comes to Heartland. Meanwhile, an accident in Kaito's lab causes Droite to go through a shocking transformation. One that may put the entire world in jeopardy and forces Kaito to make a big decision. Rated M for certain steamy scenes.
1. Prologue

**Introduction:** There's been a lot of stress going on in my life recently. One of the major things is that my elderly cat has been sick. He's actually a lot better than he was (which means I should probably update the special announcement I put in my one Digimon fanfic), but I've lost the drive to do any of the other stories I've been working on. So instead I've decided to work on this one idea for a ZEXAL story I've been developing for the last few weeks. The inspiration for this little story comes from a little movie called _Lifeforce_, which was a film I suggested for Luminous107's story, _At the Movies: With Yuma, Kaito & Ryoga_. It's a pretty amusing story, especially if you're familiar with the movies mentioned in it. This is also something of an indirect sequel for the 5D's Alternative series that I did last year. It's not necessary to read that trilogy to know what's going on in this story, but I do suggest that everyone reading forget what they know about the 5D's anime since it doesn't apply here.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Prologue

It was night as Droite walked the streets of Heartland alone. The place she was headed for was Heartland Tower. It had been a few months since Droite had been back to the city due to being on the road with Gauche and she wanted to see Kaito again. She thought that perhaps maybe this time she'd be able to tell Kaito her true feelings for him. Things were certainly calm enough in Heartland for her to do so. Since the incident with the Barians two years ago, the city had been at peace.

After only a few minutes of walking, Droite finally reached the tower with its familiar heart-shaped structure on top. Upon walking inside, the dark-haired woman found that the place hadn't changed all that much. It still had the same dim lighting, for one thing. As Droite began walking down the hallway in search of Kaito, she came upon a familiar blue-haired boy with golden eyes. Droite instantly recognized the boy as Kaito's younger brother, Haruto Tenjo.

Upon noticing Droite, Haruto smiled and quickly walked over to her. "Hi Droite!"

"Hello, Haruto." Droite greeted back with a small smile. "You're looking well."

"I bet you're here to see my brother, huh?" Haruto deduced. "He's down in the lab with Christopher working on something."

Droite became a little nauseous upon hearing that Kaito was working with the young man she knew as Christopher Arclight, formerly known as V. Christopher being in the lab with Kaito, then there was a good chance that Christopher's father was there as well.

"I see…" Droite finally responded. "So does that mean Tron is here too?"

"Nah, he and my dad are on a trip with Mr. Tsukumo." Haruto answered. "They probably won't be back for at least a week."

Droite breathed a small sigh of relief. Ever since her little duel with Tron at the World Duel Carnival, Droite hated to even be in the same room with the twisted little man-child. It didn't matter to her that he had reformed and was no longer considered an enemy.

"So how long are you going to be in the city?" Haruto asked.

"For a few days, at least." Droite answered. "Right now, there's something I'm hoping to talk to Kaito about."

"Oh, well then I'll let you go see him then." Haruto replied. "See you later."

With that, Haruto walked off and Droite headed for the tower's lab. Within a few moments she had reached a familiar large chamber scattered with bits of scientific equipment. Right away, Droite saw Kaito standing in the middle of the room wearing his typical black outfit. A serious expression was on the blonde's face as he stared at a large device in the room with his arms crossed. Just a few feet away Kaito's robot, Orbital 7 was furiously typing away at a computer console.

As Droite walked into the room, her footsteps caused Kaito to turn around and notice her. "Droite. What are you doing here?"

"Gauche is taking part in a few special event here in the city, so I thought I'd swing by since I was here." Droite answered.

"So you just came to say hi?" Kaito asked, still with a serious expression.

"Actually… there's something I want to talk to you about." Droite answered as she looked away a bit.

"Well it will have to wait." Kaito told her as he turned back to the device he had been staring at. "Right now, Christopher and I are in the middle of a very important experiment."

As if on cue, walking out from behind the large device was a familiar young man with long white hair dressed in blue. This of course was Christopher.

"Kaito, I just finished making the adjustments to the generator" Christopher reported. He then noticed that he and Kaito were no longer alone in the room. "Oh, hello Droite. I certainly wasn't expecting you to show up. You look well."

"Thanks." Droite replied with a slight hint of irritation in her voice. "So what is this experiment that you guys are working on?"

"We're going to attempt to use a Momentum Reactor to try and open portals to other dimensions." Christopher explained.

"Wait, you mean you're going to use the kind of generator used to power cities like Neo Domino to create gateways to other worlds?" Droite asked.

"I've done several months of research on this, and theoretically a Momentum Reactor should be powerful enough to create stable portals." Christopher answered.

"If it works, not only will we be able to open a stable door to Astral World, we'll be able to explore other dimensions as well." Kaito added.

"M-Master Kaito." Orbital 7 called from his workstation. "We're ready to begin."

"Droite, you're more than welcome to stay here and watch." Christopher offered.

"…Sure, why not?" Droite agreed.

As Kaito and Christopher walked over to the control console where Orbital was, Droite went over to lean against the lab wall and sighed. It was starting to seem like her coming to the lab was a waste of time. Droite began to think that there would never be a time for her to tell Kaito how she truly felt about him. There would always be something else that required his focus. First it was getting his hands on the Numbers in order to heal Haruto, then it was fighting the Barians, and now it was some kind of complicated experiment.

The large cylindrical device in the center of the lab began to hum to life. In front of the device were two metal poles that began to crackle with red electricity. Droite watched as a small black vortex started to form between the two poles. Suddenly a bolt of purple lighting shot out of the tiny vortex and struck Droite. Droite blacked out as she slid down the side of the wall to the floor.

Droite regained consciousness a few moments later to find a concerned Kaito kneeling down next to her. She also found her entire body felt somehow numb.

"Are you okay?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah… yeah, I think so." Droite answered.

"We should get you to a doctor." Kaito told her as he helped her to her feet.

"I'm fine, really." Droite insisted. "Just a little shaken up. What just happened, anyway?"

"We're not sure." Kaito answered. "But whatever it was caused the reactor's emergency shutdown system to engage."

"We should've waited for the specialist we called in to come before trying this first experiment." Christopher spoke.

"Droite, are you sure you're okay?" Kaito asked.

"I'm fine, but I think I should get back to my hotel." Droite decided.

"You're more than welcome to stay here for the night." Kaito offered.

"The place I'm staying that isn't far from here, I'll be fine." Droite replied.

"Well… okay." Kaito finally agreed. "But call me if you need help with anything. And you should see a doctor tomorrow morning to make sure you're okay."

Droite nodded before silently walking out of the room. As she headed down the hallway, the numb feeling she had continued to persist. It was almost as if her whole body was asleep while she was wide-awake. The only feeling she had was a kind of cold sensation that was all over. Droite almost felt like she had become a walking corpse.

**Author's Note:** I apologize if Christopher or any of the other characters were OOC. This is my first time writing a major ZEXAL fanfic, so I may not have some of the characters down quite right. I'll try and get better at it though. Anyway, chapter one is already done. So if those of you reading like what you see so far, feel free to move on.

Also if you like, please review and let me know what you think.


	2. Stardust Legacy

**Author's Note:** In this chapter, I'll be introducing the love interest for Shark that I came up with. This character was actually going to be used in a completely different story that got scrapped. As for who this character is related to, there's a big clue in the title of this chapter. I remind everyone reading that this story sort of continues the events of my 5D's Alternative trilogy, so I once again ask that everyone forget what they know about the 5D's anime.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's).

* * *

Chapter 1: Stardust Legacy

It was a late Sunday morning as sixteen-year-old Ryoga "Shark" Kamishiro headed for Heartland Academy. Accompanying Shark were two of his fellow former Barians, Durbe and Mizael. Ordinarily, the three would not be going anywhere near the school on a Sunday, but there was a special event being held in front of the school that made going there on a Sunday an exception. Shark's old ally, Gauche was going to be dueling in a special exhibition match. If it had been up to Shark, he probably would've just skipped the event, but all of his friends insisted that he come.

About half way towards the school, Shark and his companions spied a familiar group of people a few feet ahead of them. Two members of this little group were in the middle of an argument. One of the two was a young man with very short dark hair that had three sets of red spikes towards the front. This of course was Shark's old friend and rival, Yuma Tsukumo. The dark-haired young man that Yuma was arguing with was another of Shark's fellow former Barians, Alit. Also in the group was Yuma's girlfriend, Kotori Mizuki, along with Yuma's old friend, Tetsuo Takeda and another one of the former Barians, Gilag.

"I wonder what those two are arguing about?" Durbe asked as they continued to approach.

"Something stupid, I'm sure." Shark assumed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

As Shark and his two companions walked up, Kotori, Tetsuo, and Gilag were the only ones to notice their arrival. Yuma and Alit were too wrapped up in their heated debate to notice anything else.

"Oh, hi guys." Kotori greeted.

"What the heck are Yuma and Alit arguing about?" Shark asked.

"They're trying to decide who's going to duel Gauche in that match." Gilag explained. "They've been going on like this for ten minutes."

"Wait, back up. Who said anything about either of these guys dueling Gauche?" a confused Shark asked.

"Don't you know? For this exhibition duel, Gauche is gonna take on one challenger from the audience." Tetsuo explained. "The problem is, Yuma and Alit can't decide which one of 'em is gonna be Gauche's opponent."

"Okay, I think I get it now." Shark replied. "Let me handle this."

With that, Shark walked up behind Yuma and flicked him in the back of his head. Both Yuma and Alit were snapped from their argument.

"Oh, hey Shark." Yuma greeted. "How long have you been here?"

"I just got here." Shark answered. "Kotori and the others just told me what's going on."

"Do you wanna duel Gauche too?" Yuma asked.

"Nah, I'm not really in the mood to duel right now." Shark answered.

"What about Durbe and Mizael?" Alit asked.

"As if I'd waste my time." The blonde dragon tamer huffed. "The only one I consider to be a worthy opponent right now is Tenjo."

"I'm not that interested in dueling Gauche either." Durbe replied as he adjusted his glasses. "But if you two are so eager for the chance, then why don't you duel each other first to decide who duels Gauche."

Yuma and Alit blinked at Durbe in surprise. It seemed that the idea of having a duel to decide Gauche's opponent had never occurred to either of them.

"I've been telling you guys that you should do that for the last ten minutes." A rather frustrated Kotori added. "You two have been too busy arguing to listen to me!"

"Oh… sorry Kotori." Yuma told her. "I guess that is a pretty good way to figure this out."

"Yeah, and I'm always ready for a chance to duel Yuma." Alit agreed.

"There's no time for that now!" Tetsuo interrupted. "The duel is in five minutes! If we don't leave now, none of us are gonna duel Gauche."

"Then I guess there's only one solution left." Gilag decided. "We get there, and Yuma and Alit will have a rock-paper-scissors match to decide who duels."

"Fine, whatever. Let's just get going." An impatient Shark told them.

Within a few moments, the group had reached the front of Heartland Academy. Already, a large crowd of people had gathered there to watch the duel that was about to take place. Standing in front of the building was a man with orange hair wearing a tight-fitting blue and red costume with a golden star-shaped mask. This of course was the man that everyone had come to see, Gauche.

"Welcome, one and all!" Gauche spoke into the microphone he was holding. "I'm Gauche, the Star of Spartan City! And for today only, one of you lucky people will get the chance to face me in a duel! So if anybody has the guts, step up and face me!"

As Yuma and Alit began their rock-paper-scissors match, many other young duelists were debating with one another with who was going to duel Gauche. Shark looked away as Yuma and Alit tied for the third time and noticed that a young woman had arrived on the scene. She looked to be about eighteen and had long very dark-blue hair with a few strands of gold that went half way down her back, and a pair of golden cat-like eyes. The young woman had on a sleeveless white shirt with a blue circle on the front with a dark-blue vest, along with a pair of black fingerless gloves that went up past her elbows. The rest of her outfit consisted of a pair of tight black jeans with a brown pair of cowboy boots. Hanging from her neck was a small gold cross-shaped medallion with an emerald crest.

As the young woman walked, her nose was buried in a book on theoretical physics that she held with her right hand. Using her left hand, she dragged behind her a blue suitcase on wheels. The young lady was so engrossed in the book she was reading that she didn't notice when she walked up before Gauche.

"Well, looks like we have our challenger!" Gauche announced, greatly surprising Yuma and Alit.

"What the… how did this happen?" Alit demanded to know.

"You idiots were so distracted by your little game, you let someone else steal your opponent." Mizael told them.

"It's your own fault for getting distracted." Durbe added.

"I wonder who the girl challenging Gauche is?" Kotori asked.

Shark's eyes widened in surprise when he took a good look at the young woman. "That's… Hikari!"

"You know her, Shark?" Yuma asked.

"Yeah, from a long time ago." Shark answered. "When Rio and I were about eight, Hikari and her family stayed here in the city one summer. It's been years since I've seen her."

"I have to say, Miss. I wasn't expecting you to be the one to challenge me to this duel." Gauche spoke. "I hope you really have what it takes to take me on."

The young woman known as Hikari finally looked up from her book and quickly looked around. "Oh, are you challenging me to a duel?"

"What the… you're the one who walked up and challenged me!" Gauche told her. "Now are we doing this or what?"

"I really don't know what's going on, but if you're challenging me to a duel, I'll be happy to take you on." Hikari replied as she set her book and suitcase down.

With that, Hikari and everyone in the audience put on their D-Gazers as Gauche's D-Gazer tattoo activated. The environment around them took on a slightly different color and several holographic screens appeared in the air. As soon as Hikari and Gauche activated their duel discs, the duel was set.

"I'll start things off." Hikari declared as she drew her first card. "First I'll set two cards in the field. Then I summon Quillbolt Hedgehog in Defense Mode!"

Materializing on Hikari's side of the battlefield was a hamster-like creature with light-brown fur. Growing out of its back was a mass of dark-grey metal bolts.

"That ends my turn." Hikari announced.

"That's all you're doing?" a somewhat outraged Gauche asked. "What kind of wimpy defense is that?"

"Hey, a duelist can only do so much on the first turn." Hikari calmly pointed out. "No need to get so bent out of shape."

"Boy, Gauche really seems to be losing his cool." Yuma observed.

"I don't blame him." Tetsuo replied. "He goes to all this trouble of setting up this duel, only to take on some airhead girl who's got no clue about what's going on."

"Hikari may be a little clueless sometimes, but she's no airhead." Shark told them. "And Gauche is going to regret it if he takes this duel lightly."

"I'm gonna teach you a lesson!" Gauche declared as he drew his first card. "Since my opponent controls a monster while I don't have any on the field, I special summon Heroic Challenger-Assault Halberd from my hand!"

Materializing on Gauche's side of the battlefield was a warrior clad completely in blue and white armor. His left hand was a weapon with three blades.

"Next I summon Heroic Challenger-Spartan in Attack Mode!" Gauche announced.

Appearing next to Assault Halberd was a warrior with green eyes clad in gold and white Roman armor with a helmet and red cape. In his right hand he wielded a spear, and with his left he carried a large red shield.

"I attack your little hedgehog with Assault Halberd!" Gauche announced. "And when Assault Halberd takes down a monster in Defense Mode, my opponent takes piercing damage!"

The warrior in blue charged forward and jumped into the air before coming down and slicing the little hedgehog in half with his blade. The two halves shattered apart and Hikari's life points dropped from 4000 to 3000.

"Spartan, attack this girl directly!" Gauche commanded. "Spartan Spear!"

"Not so fast! I activate the Trap, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" Hikari announced. "This card cancels your attack before setting itself back on the field!"

As Spartan threw his spear at Hikari, a scarecrow made out of bits of junk suddenly popped up in front of her. The spear struck an invisible barrier in front of the scarecrow and bounced off, spinning back through the air to come back to the Roman warrior's hand. The scarecrow then vanished and the large representation of Hikari's card reset itself on the field.

"You don't see that card much anymore." Tetsuo remarked. "Scrap-Iron Scarecrow's a pretty old card, but a pretty good one."

"Fine! I'll end my turn there!" Gauche announced.

Hikari drew her next card. "I summon Junk Blader in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Hikari's side of the battlefield was a red-eyed warrior clade completely in purple armor. He had on a tattered black cape, and in his left hand he carried a large lance-like blade.

"Now I activate the Spell card I set on the field earlier, Emergency Teleport!" Hikari announced. "This card lets me summon a Psychic monster from my hand, so I summon the Tuner monster, Krebons!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a slender humanoid creature clad in a blue and white outfit that one might find on a jester or clown. Its head appeared to be detached from the rest of its body. Its face had a wide grinning mouth filled with yellow teeth, and over its eyes was a black visor displaying green lines.

"A Tuner monster? That means this girl, Hikari uses Synchro Monsters!" Tetsuo realized.

"What's a Synchro Monster?" Kotori asked.

"It's a special kind of monster that you summon by adding up the levels of weaker monsters." Tetsuo explained. "But one of the monsters has to be what's called a Tuner."

"I've never even seen a Synchro Monster before." Yuma remarked.

"That's no surprise, since no one in Heartland uses 'em." Tetsuo replied. "This girl's clearly from out of town."

"Since I have a Tuner on the field, I can summon Quillbolt Hedgehog back from the Graveyard!" Hikari announced. The light-brown hedgehog reappeared on the battlefield. "Now I tune the level two Krebons into the level four Junk Blader and the level two Quillbolt Hedgehog for a level eight Synchro Summon!"

Krebons flashed orange before turning into two rings made of green light. The rings encircled Hikari's two other monsters and changed them into six white stars.

"Clustering hopes will become a new shining star! Become the path its light shines upon!" Hikari chanted. "Synchro Summon! Take flight, Stardust Dragon!"

The stars flashed and created a pillar of white light that shot into the air. The light faded after a moment to reveal a silvery-white dragon with magnificent wings and well-developed arms and legs. Its head ended in a three-pointed crest and at the end of its snout was a long horn. As the dragon flapped its wings, sparkling green lights showered down onto the field. Gauche was shocked upon seeing the dragon, as was everyone in the audience. Everyone that is, except for Shark.

"It's so pretty." An awestruck Kotori declared.

"Such a mighty dragon." Mizael declared. "It might even be a match for my Tachyon."

"N-no way!" a stunned Gauche spoke. "How the hell can you have that card?"

"I equip Stardust Dragon with the Spell, Junk Barrage!" Hikari announced. The dragon began to glow with a faint green aura. "Stardust Dragon, attack Assault Halberd! Shooting Sonic!"

Stardust Dragon reared back his head and fired a sparkling ray of light from his mouth. Assault Halberd was struck in the chest and was instantly vaporized. Gauche's life points dropped down to 3300.

"And now the effect of Junk Barrage kicks in!" Hikari announced. "Since Stardust Dragon destroyed your monster, you take half that monster's ATK as damage!"

Flaming bits of space junk suddenly fell from the sky and struck Gauche, creating several small explosions around him. When it was over, his life points had fallen to 2400.

"I'll set one card on the field and end my turn." Hikari announced. "You're up."

"Guess this girl, Hikari is a lot tougher than we all thought." Alit remarked. "Gauche had really landed himself in a tight spot."

"It's all thanks to that dragon of hers." Mizael responded. "Perhaps there are other worthy opponents besides Tenjo after all."

"But… there's just no way!" Tetsuo spoke. "It's impossible for that girl to have Stardust Dragon!"

"What do you mean, Tetsuo?" Yuma asked.

Before Tetsuo could answer, Gauche drew his next card. "I play Monster Reborn and summon Assault Halberd back to the field!" The warrior in blue reappeared on the battlefield. "Next I summon Heroic Challenger-Extra Sword!"

Appearing next to Gauche's other two monsters was a warrior clad completely in green and yellow-green armor with spiked shoulders. In each of his hands he carried a large sword.

"With these three monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Heroic Champion-Kusanagi!" Gauche announced.

A large red vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Spartan, Assault Halberd, and Extra Sword turned into three balls of orange energy and flew into the center of the vortex. Rising out of the anomaly moments later was an extremely large warrior clad in orange and dark-red samurai armor. Three balls of orange light orbited around him, and in his right hand he carried a sword with a single long flame as the blade.

"Wow, an Xyz Monster. I don't see much of those back home." An impressed Hikari remarked. "Of course Kusanagi only has 2500. If you used him to attack Stardust, they'd both be destroyed."

"Except since I used Extra Sword as an Overlay Unity, Kusanagi gains 1000 extra ATK!" Gauche revealed. "Kusanagi, take out that dragon with Heroic Flame Sword!"

"I activate my Trap, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" Hikari quickly announced. The scarecrow of junk popped back up onto the field.

"Nice try, but I activate Kusanagi's effect!" Gauche announced. "By detaching one Overlay Unit, Kusanagi can negate the activation of your Trap!"

Hikari's lips curved into a smirk. "I knew you'd try a move like that, so I activate my Counter Trap, Stardust Judgment! Because you used a monster effect to negate my Trap, Stardust Judgment negates that effect and destroys the monster!"

"What!" Gauche exclaimed.

One of the balls of light orbiting Kusanagi flew into the blade of his flaming sword. The giant samurai swung the sword and sent a blast of fire at Hikari's scarecrow. Before the flames could hit, a massive blast of blue light shot from Hikari's other Trap and pushed back the flames. The blue blast continued and vaporized Kusanagi, causing Gauche's jaw to drop.

"One more thing." Hikari continued. "Since I had a Dragon-type Synchro Monster on the field when I activated Stardust Judgment, you take damage equal to that monster's ATK!"

Stardust Dragon reared back his head and fired a blue beam of light down at Gauche. Gauche was knocked to the ground by the attack and his life points dropped to zero. A holographic screen appeared in the air and declared Hikari the winner of the duel. With the duel over, Stardust Dragon vanished and the surrounding area returned to normal. Much of the audience was left in shock by what they had just witnessed.

"That was fun." Hikari declared as she removed her D-Gazer and walked up to Gauche. "Thanks for helping me kill some time."

"Who… who the hell are you?" Gauche asked.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I should've introduced myself earlier." Hikari realized. "I'm Hikari Fudo. It's nice to meet you."

Many of the audience members gasped upon hearing Hikari's last name. The only ones who weren't surprised to hear it were Shark, his fellow ex-Barians, and Yuma.

"Hikari… Fudo?" Teusuo spoke. "But… then that must mean…"

"She's Yusei Fudo's daughter." Shark finished, causing both Tetsuo and Kotori to become surprised.

"What the… you never said that you knew Yusei Fudo's daughter!" Tetsuo told him.

"You never asked." Shark pointed out. "Besides, it was a long time ago."

"Who's Yusei Fudo?" a confused Yuma asked, causing Shark, Tetsuo, and Kotori to fall over.

"Yuma! How the heck could you not know who Yusei Fudo is?" Tetsuo asked.

"Just when I thought when you couldn't be more dense!" Shark exclaimed.

"Pardon us, Nasch. But none of us know who this Yusei Fudo you speak of is either." Durbe calmly pointed out.

"Yeah, well you four have a pretty good excuse for that, since you technically aren't from Earth." Shark replied. "Yuma's only excuse seems to be he's an idiot."

"Hey!" Yuma protested.

"Yusei Fudo is the champion duelist of Neo Domino City." Shark explained, completely ignoring Yuma. "Stardust Dragon was his signature card. He's considered to be one of the strongest duelists in history."

"Yeah, people say that he's as strong as the legendary Yugi Muto and the mythical Jaden Yuki." Tetsuo added.

"Who're those guys?" Yuma asked. This time everyone in the group fell over.

"Jeez Yuma! I understand you not knowing about this Yusei guy, but not knowing about Yugi Muto and Jaden Yuki?" Alit asked.

"Even we know who Yugi Muto is, you dolt!" Mizael told him.

Just as Shark started to chew out Yuma, Hikari turned and noticed him in the audience. She quickly went over to where he and the others were standing.

"Ryoga, is that you?" Hikari asked, causing Shark to turn.

"Uh, yeah. Hi, Hikari." Shark greeted with a slight blush.

"I was hoping I'd run into you while I was here." Hikari revealed. "You've really grown since the last time I saw you. Of course I knew it was you when I saw that hair of yours."

"You look great too." Shark replied, trying very hard not to stare at Hikari's bountiful chest. "You actually look a lot like your mom."

"I know, everyone says I take after her." Hikari responded. "So how's your sister? Is she here?"

"Rio's fine. She's actually away on a trip." Shark revealed. "What brings you back to Heartland?"

"Someone in this city asked my dad for help on a project." Hikari explained. "But he was a little too busy to come, so I came here instead. I was actually supposed to meet the person who asked for help here, but I ended up dueling that pro wrestler guy."

"And you did an impressive job beating him." A voice remarked. Everyone turned to see Kaito with Orbital 7.

"You Kaito Tenjo?" Hikari asked.

"That's right." Kaito confirmed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Fudo."

"Sorry my dad couldn't come himself." Hikari told Kaito as she shook his hand. "He had to oversee the upgrades to the main reactor in Neo Domino. Momentum Reactors can be a little tricky sometimes. If you don't know what you're doing, they can blow up in your face."

"Yeah… we've started to realize that." Kaito replied, his expression saddening a bit.

"Well, I guess you should take me to this project of yours so we can get started." Hikari decided before turning back to Shark. "Ryoga, I'm probably going to be in town for at least a week. We should use some of that time to catch up. Give me a call sometime, huh?"

"Yeah… I'll call you, or something." Shark agreed, his face turning a little redder.

"Yuma, I'll see you and the others later." Kaito told him. With that, he walked off with Hikari and Orbital.

As Kaito and the other two walked off, Gauche approached Shark and the others. "Well, that was a different kind of duel than I expected. That girl, Hikari sure takes after her old man."

"Hi Gauche." Yuma greeted. "Sorry you and I didn't get to chance to duel."

"Don't sweat it, kid." Gauche replied. "I'm gonna be in this city for a few days. We should have time for a quick duel later."

"Well before you and Yuma have your duel, you'll have to take me on!" Alit declared.

"You got it!" Gauche agreed.

Kotori looked around and suddenly noticed that someone was missing from the group. "Hey, where's Droite? Shouldn't she be here?"

"Oh, yeah. Droite was feeling pretty under the weather this morning." Gauche explained. "She's back at our hotel trying to get some rest."

"I see." Kotori replied. "Well, I hope there's nothing seriously wrong with her."

* * *

_Droite wandered through a vast camber with walls and a floor that glowed with an eerie purple light. All around her were endless rows of transparent crystal coffins, each one containing a naked desiccated corpse. Droite had no memory of how she had gotten to this strange place or why she was there. Yet she somehow felt at home there, and it seemed that there was somewhere in the room she was trying to get to. After a few more moments of walking, Droite finally reached the place she was heading for._

_The place in question was a large raised altar with a single crystal coffin on it. Droite approached the coffin and found the dried out body of a woman with very long white hair inside. For reasons she didn't understand, Droite reached out and placed her hand on the lid of the coffin. Suddenly the dead woman inside opened her eyes and turned them towards Droite. Droite was disturbed that the eyes were orange like her own. The dead woman's hand suddenly burst through the coffin's lid and grabbed Droite by the shirt._

Droite shot in bed, cold sweat covering her brow. It took her a moment to realize that what she just experienced was only a nightmare. Though it was the most vivid nightmare that she had ever had. After catching her breath, Droite got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She turned on the sink and splashed some cold water on her face. Droite calmed down a bit and began to look at herself in the mirror. She looked a little paler than she normally did, but assumed that was because she was sick.

Droite took a deep breath and absentmindedly put her hand on her chest. When she did, she suddenly noticed that something was very wrong. Droite moved her hand to different spots on her chest, pressing down on it as hard as she did. But everything she did only confirmed that she seemed to be missing something very important. She didn't have a heartbeat.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I once again apologize if any of the characters were OOC. Anyway, Hikari Fudo was originally going to be the star of a series I was going to do called ZEXAL Alternative. It was going to serve as a sequel to 5D's Alternative and focus on the children of the Signers. But there were a whole lot of problems that I couldn't solve. For one thing, I was having a real headache trying to come up a deck for Hikari that would allow her to use both Stardust Dragon and the Numbers. Synchro and Xyz Monsters can be a little incompatible with one another in some decks. I also didn't know what direction to take with the story, and every variation I came up with was too much of a 5D's story. So I decided to toss the idea and use Hikari for this tale.

I do eventually plan to do an actual 5D's Alternative sequel at some point in the future though. It'll take place two years before the events of this story (in other words, the same time period as the ZEXAL anime), and reveal how the second generation Signers came to be.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	3. Awakened Blood

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 2: Awakened Blood

Hikari followed Kaito and Orbital 7 through the corridors of Heartland Tower to the lab. During the whole, there had been absolutely no conversation between Hikari and Kaito. It seemed to Hikari that the young man was not much of a conversationalist. It also seemed like there was something that was troubling Kaito a great deal. Though Hikari could not figure out what that something might be. He just seemed to have kind of a worried look in his eyes.

"So, how long have you known Shark?" Kaito asked, finally breaking the long silence.

"Who?" Hikari asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry, I mean Ryoga Kamishiro." Kaito explained.

"Oh, he's sort of a childhood friend." Hikari explained. "This morning is the first time I've seen him in years. If you don't mind me asking, how'd Ryoga get a nickname like Shark?"

Kaito shrugged. "I guess when you use a deck full of shark monsters, a nickname like that kind of sticks."

After a few moments, Hikari and Kaito finally reached the lab. Christopher was inside looking at some data on one of the lab's computers when he noticed their arrival.

"You must be Ms. Fudo." Christopher greeted as he walked over. "I'm Christopher Arclight. Thank you for coming all this way to help."

"It's no problem." Hikari assured him before turning to look at the large reactor inside the room. "So this is your Momentum Reactor, huh?"

"It took us quite some time to build." Christopher replied. "We built it following the specifications of your father's most recent designs."

"My dad mentioned that you're using this reactor for some kind of special project, but he was pretty sketchy on the details." Hikari revealed. "Mind filling me in?"

"We're hoping to use this reactor to open doorways into other dimensions." Kaito explained.

Hikari blinked a little in surprise. "Wow… that's a pretty ambitious project."

"You don't think it's possible?" Christopher asked.

"No, it might be possible." Hikari answered. "My dad once told me that a Momentum Reactor could be used to travel through time."

"Are you serious?" a surprised Kaito asked.

"I've never read anything about such a thing." An equally surprised Christopher spoke. "Is this some sort of secret project of your father's?"

"Nope, this is just something from a story that my dad told me a few years ago." Hikari explained. "I don't entirely believe it myself. Supposedly this was something that happened before I was born. A sad old man from the future came back through time to try and change history for the better, but things got a little out of hand."

"That does sound extraordinary." Christopher admitted.

"Yeah. But as far as I know, it's just a story." Hikari replied. "Let's focus on what you guys have been trying to do. So have you had any success so far?"

"We tried opening up a portal last night, but just when it seemed like one was about to open, the emergency shutdown system kicked in." Christopher answered.

"Well, that could mean either one of two things." Hikari theorized. "Either punching holes into other dimensions is just too much for this reactor to handle, or there's some sort of software glitch. We should start by looking at the control programing for the reactor to see if there are any problems."

"You guys go ahead and get started." Kaito told them. "I'll come back to help after I get a bite to eat."

"Kaito, I'm sure Ms. Fudo and I can handle things on our own." Christopher told him. "Why don't you take the afternoon off and go check on Droite?"

"I'm sure Droite's doing okay." Kaito replied. "The important thing right now is finishing this project."

"Excuse me, but who's this person you guys are talking about?" Hikari asked.

"Pardon us. Droite is a friend of ours who was here last night during our first attempt." Christopher explained. "She was injured from a power surge that occurred before the shutdown system activated."

"I see…" Hikari replied, finally figuring out why Kaito seemed so worried. "Well hey, if you're worried about this friend of, Kaito you should go check on her. Christopher and I can handle things just fine without you."

"I'd prefer to work, if it's all the same to you two." Kaito told them as he headed for the door. "Besides, I'm sure Droite doesn't want to be around me right now. Orbital, stay here and help Christopher and Ms. Fudo."

"Y-yes sir!" Orbital replied with a salute. With that, Kaito exited the lab.

Christopher gave a heavy sigh. "That young man can be so stubborn sometimes."

"He reminds me a little of my Uncle Jack." Hikari remarked. "It also seems like he's blaming himself for what happened in that accident, the poor guy."

"Yes, I'm sure that Kaito feels responsible for what happened." Christopher agreed. "Well, shall we get to work?"

"Sure." Hikari agreed. "Let's get started."

* * *

Shark entered the Kamishiro Mansion with the rest of the ex-Barian Emperors and headed into the living room. The whole trip back from the academy, Shark had been unable to get Hikari out of his head. In truth, Shark had always had a little bit of a crush on Hikari ever since the day they met, and he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she had become since then. As soon as Shark and the other four got into the living room and sat down, he was finally able to push Hikari from his thoughts to focus on some household business.

"Okay, so I guess the only thing we need to deal with right now is who's turn it is to cook dinner tonight." Shark told the others.

"Well, it was your turn last night, so tonight it looks like I'm the one." Durbe answered. "Tomorrow night it'll be Mizael's turn again, since Merag's out of town."

"Hey! Wait just a damn minute!" Gilag protested. "How come you never let Alit and me cook anymore?"

"Yeah! You guys have only ever let us cook dinner once!" Alit pointed out.

"Are you two serious?" Shark told them. "Gilag, do you remember what happened after we ate that rabbit stew you made that one time? We all had to get our stomachs pumped!"

"That stew recipe I used was the best! I don't know what happened!" the muscular ex-Barian responded.

"Your mistake was you bought the meat you used from some man on a street corner who wasn't an actual butcher." Durbe calmly pointed out.

"Hey! I got that meat cheap!" Gilag told them. "You know how much rabbit would've cost at an actual butcher shop?"

"I saw you put that foul meat into that wretched stew you forced on us." Mizael reminded him. "It was green and obviously unfit for human consumption! And like it or not, we're human now!"

"As for you Alit," Shark continued, "that chili you cooked was hotter than the surface of the sun!"

"Well excuse me for trying to add a little spice to our meals!" Alit protested as he waved his arms. "Can you blame me with all the bland stuff that you guys cook? Besides, the dinners that Gilag and I cooked don't even come close to that little dinner Vector made for us that one time!"

Shark, Durbe, and Mizael all cringed a bit when they recalled the one and only time they had allowed the mad ex-Barian Emperor, Vector to cook dinner for them. Maybe it was because they were tired that evening from the mountain of schoolwork they had to work on during that time, but against their better judgment they had let Vector handle dinner. That night, Vector had cooked a different kind of meat dish for each member of the group, though he was very vague about the kind of meat he had used. The meal had turned out to be very tasty. But as they all began to digest what they had eaten, Vector had revealed the secret ingredient that he had used for everyone's dish. The meat he had used was road kill that he had scrapped off the side of the highway out of town.

"Look, I'm tired of talking about this. Durbe's cooking tonight, and that's that!" Shark decided. "But Durbe, maybe tonight you should avoid cooking anything that has meat in it."

"I'll see what I can do, Nasch." Durbe replied as he got up.

"Well, we tried buddy." Alit told Gilag. "Wanna go kill some time at the arcade?"

"Sounds good." Gilag agreed.

With that, Alit and Gilag exited the room while Durbe headed for the kitchen. Mizael left the room moments later to do his own thing, leaving Shark alone once again. Thoughts of Hikari began to flood back into the water duelist's mind. He thought about leaving and swinging by Heartland Tower to see her, but decided against it. Shark was snapped from his thoughts by the sound of his ringing D-Gazer. He looked at the device and saw that it was Rio calling him. He clicked on the device, and an image of his twin sister appeared on the screen.

_"Hi Ryoga."_ Rio cheerfully greeted. _"Just thought I'd call to check in."_

"How your trip going?" Shark asked. "You and Iris doing okay?"

_"We're fine. Iris is taking a little nap right now."_ Rio answered. _"So, anything interesting happing back home?"_

"Well… Hikari Fudo's in town." Shark answered somewhat hesitantly.

A wry smirk appeared on Rio's face. _"Hikari Fudo, huh? You must be real glad to see her again?"_

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shark asked.

_"Oh come on, Ryoga. I know you've had a crush on Hikari for a long time."_ Rio revealed. _"So, how long is she going to be in Heartland?"_

"I think she said about a week, at least." Shark replied.

_"Well then this is the perfect opportunity for you to ask her out."_ Rio told him. _"You probably won't get a better chance than this."_

"What the… I can't ask out Hikari!" Shark told her.

_"Why not?"_ Rio asked. _"I think the two of you would make a good couple."_

"There are tons of reasons why!" Shark insisted. "For one thing, there's the shady reputation I ended up with after you ended up in the hospital. Then of course there's the little fact that two years ago I was an alien conqueror that almost destroyed two worlds."

_"If she's still the Hikari Fudo I remember, I'm sure she's not going to care about any of that stuff."_ Rio assured him.

"Let's face it, Rio. When it comes right down to it, Hikari's a princess and I'm just scum." Shark told her as he slumped back on the couch. "There's no way she'd be interested in someone like me. Besides, someone like her probably has a boyfriend already."

_"You'll never know unless you ask."_ Rio pointed out. _"Look Ryoga, I think it's about time that you got yourself a girlfriend. Just think about, okay?"_

"…Yeah, okay. I'll think about it." Shark finally agreed.

_"Good."_ Rio replied. _"Well, I should probably be going now. See you soon."_

"Later." Shark replied before the screen of his D-Gazer went dark.

Shark sighed and leaned his head back over the side of the couch. He had to admit that Rio did have a point. He was sixteen, yet he had never made an appearance on the dating scene. Maybe it was a good idea for him to try asking Hikari out. He didn't really have much to lose. Shark toyed again with the idea of swinging by Heartland Tower. But in the end he decided that it could wait until tomorrow. Right now, he decided he needed a little nap.

* * *

Dusk fell as Droite wandered aimlessly through the city. She had been walking around for hours, feeling like she was trapped in a living nightmare. Droite no longer had a heartbeat or a pulse. She actually had become a member of the walking dead, and she assumed that the accident at Kaito's lab was the cause. Droite had decided against going to a doctor about her condition. She was afraid that any doctor that examined her might want to dissect her to try and figure out what she was.

Droite was more afraid than she had ever been in her whole life. She had no idea what was happening to her, but it seemed like she was changing into something. She also felt incredibly weak, like she barely had an ounce of energy left in her. As Droite continued down the deserted sidewalk she was on, she spotted a bench on the corner. She staggered over to it and sat down in order to try and calmly figure out what to do. It finally occurred to her to go back to Heartland Tower and see Kaito. There was a chance that he and Christopher might be able to come up with some kind of cure to her condition. Plus she really wanted to see Kaito at that moment.

As Droite sat on the bench, a man in his mid-thirties emerged from the bar across the street. He had slightly long dark-brown hair and wore a grey suit with a red tie and a brown overcoat. Upon spotting Droite on the bench, the man smirked and began to walk over.

"Hey there, little lady." The man spoke, getting Droite's attention. "Couldn't help but notice you all alone over here. Mind if I sit down?"

"Get lost." Droite told him.

The man ignored Droite's command and sat down next to her on the bench. "My name's Genta. What's yours?"

"Go away!" Droite ordered. "I'm… I'm not feeling well."

"Well, maybe I can make you feel better." Genta offered as he leaned in close. "What's say you and I go back to my place for the night?"

Droite was about to try telling Genta to leave again when a strange instinct suddenly took hold of her. She suddenly wanted to lock her lips with Genta, but not to kiss him. It was more like she was looking at a water pitcher that she could take a drink from, and did indeed feel something that could only be described as thirst. Despite her revulsion towards the man, Droite grabbed hold of Genta's face and jammed her tongue into his mouth. His breath tasted of liquor and tobacco, but she felt she needed to keep hold.

Droite took a deep breath and suddenly she felt some kind of energy flowing into her through her mouth. Unbeknownst to Droite, Genta's body had begun to glow with a bright purple aura. Genta attempted to struggle to get away, but Droite kept a tight grip on his face. In a matter of moments, Droite pushed Genta onto his back as she continued to suck the energy out of him. As Droite continued to drain more and more life from him, Genta's hair turned white and his body began to shrivel up.

Once Droite had drained away every last ounce of energy left from Genta, she pulled away and sat back up. She found that she no longer felt weak. In fact, she felt invigorated. There was a sort of afterglow like the kind one might feel right after having sex. She licked her lips and suddenly found that she had gained a pair of sharp incisor fangs. After a few moments, Droite finally looked down and saw Genta's desiccated corpse beneath her. In that moment, new instincts and memories suddenly overtook her and she suddenly knew what she was, what she had become, what she had always been, and what she now had to do. With this clarity she was no longer afraid of what was happening to her. She welcomed it in fact, and went off into the streets to stalk for her next victim.

* * *

**Author's Note:** There are two reasons why I have Rio being away on a trip in this story. The first is because so I wouldn't have to write for as many characters. The second is because of an idea for another ZEXAL story I have featuring Rio. The idea in question is still being developed, but it's going to be taking place at the same time as this story.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	4. Dates and Disappearances

**Author's Note:** I'd like to give a big thanks to K.I.T.T. Rider and Warrior of Spectra for reviewing this story. I hope I can live up to your expectations for this story. Also, I just want to give everyone a heads-up about the steamy scene at the start of this chapter, for those who don't like that sort of thing. There's a reason why this thing has an M rating.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL (if I did, the main protagonist wouldn't have been such a doofus).

* * *

Chapter 3: Dates and Disappearances

_Kaito found himself walking alone through an old neglected cemetery under a moonlight sky. The cracked gravestones all around him were covered in vines and years of moss. A cold wind blew past him, carrying away a few dead leaves from the ground. Kaito kept walking until he came upon a hill in the old graveyard covered in strange blue flowers. For reasons that were beyond him, Kaito walked up the hill to find something he didn't expect at the top. It was a bed covered in dark-blue sheets and a black headboard in the shape of a butterfly._

_Before Kaito could figure out what was going on, swarms of purple butterflies suddenly flew up from the ground and almost covered the sky. Suddenly the sky boomed with the sound of thunder and the pale moon above turned as red as blood. The swarm of butterflies dispersed, and a single very large purple butterfly descended from above to land before Kaito. As it landed, the butterfly turned into Droite wearing a very long purple robe. Kaito found himself mesmerized by Droite's appearance. He had always found the butterfly duelist to be quite beautiful, but there was something about her current appearance that made her even more so._

_Droite locked her eyes on Kaito as she sauntered over to him and pushed him backward onto the bed. As soon as he hit the bed, Kaito suddenly found that he was completely naked. Droite got on top of Kaito and shed her robe to reveal her own nude form. She leaned down and gave Kaito a very passionate kiss on the lips. It was best kiss that Kaito had ever had, not that he had kissed anyone else before this. Their tongues began to mingle in a sensual dance._

_When they finally broke for air, Droite repositioned herself onto Kaito's hardened erection, moaning as it slid inside her. Kaito's eyes were transfixed on the expression of sheer pleasure on Droite's face. It was one of the most beautiful and amazing things he had ever seen. Slowly, Droite began to move her hips up and down. Kaito's back arced a bit and his hands clamped onto the sheets beneath him. Gradually, Droite picked up the pace of her movements, her breasts bouncing as she went faster and faster. Kaito could feel himself teetering on the edge._

_The at last after what almost seemed like an eternity of pleasure, Katio and Droite hit their climax at the same time. As Kaito came down from his mind-blowing orgasm, Droite looked down at him and smiled. As Droite looked at him Kaito couldn't help but notice something predatory about her gaze. Droite then opened her mouth to reveal a pair of sharp fangs. Before Kaito could fully react, Droite swiftly leaned in and bit Kaito on the neck._

Kaito's eyes snapped open and he found himself staring up at the ceiling of his own bedroom. He sighed heavily as he realized what he had just experienced was a dream. It felt like a very real dream, however. And as unsettling as it was, Kaito found that he wouldn't mind having it again. Suddenly his D-Gazer tattoo began to flash on and off, indicating that he was getting a call. From the Caller ID, Kaito saw that it was Gauche. Grudgingly, Kaito activated his tattoo to accept the call. A small image of Gauche appeared before his eye.

"What the hell do you want at this early in the morning?" Kaito grumpily asked.

"Is Droite with you?" Gauche asked.

"No. Why would she be?" Kaito replied.

"Well she's been missing from our hotel since last night." Gauche revealed. "The woman at the front desk said she just walked out and never came back."

Slightly alarmed, Kaito sat up. "Do you think something might've happened to her?"

"If I didn't I wouldn't be calling you right now." Gauche pointed out. "I could use your help tracking her down."

"I'll be right there." Kaito told him before shutting off his tattoo.

Kaito quickly got out of bed to go get dressed. With the news that Gauche had just given him and the dream he had just experienced, Kaito couldn't help but fear that something terrible had happened to Droite. He also couldn't help but feel responsible, for he was sure that whatever had happened had to do with the accident in the lab. If that was indeed the case, then Kaito would never forgive himself.

* * *

The sun had only just risen a few minutes ago as Akari Tsukumo drove through the city on the back of her motorcycle. She was on her way to have a face-to-face meeting with her editor when she noticed that something was amiss. The park she was coming up on was crawling with police officers. Being the reporter that she was, Akari assumed that something was up and pulled over so she could check things out. Making her way onto the park, Akari spotted a woman with long sky-blue hair in a black leather jacket talking to one of the officers. She recognized the young woman as a police detective who was also an old friend of hers, Kyoko Yoshimori.

"Hey, Kyoko!" Akari called as she walked over.

Kyoko quickly spotted Akari and scowled. "Oh god. Kari, what the hell are you doing here?"

"I was just driving by when I saw all the cops." Akari explained. "So was there a murder or something?"

"We're not really sure what the hell we're dealing with." Kyoko answered. "Right now, it's best that you just get the hell out of here."

"No way! Not until I find out what's going on." Akari declared. "Otherwise, I may just have to do a story saying that the police are covering up a suspicious death."

"You're not gonna let this go, are you?" Kyoko realized. Akari shook her head, causing Kyoko to sigh. "Okay, c'mon. I'll show you what we found. But you better not do a story on this, otherwise my superiors will have my badge and most likely my head."

"I promise I'll keep this under wraps." Akari assured her.

With that, Kyoko led Akari over to a section of the park that had been blocked off by police tape. Once there, Akari saw the shriveled corpse of a man wearing a lime-green ski cap with a black hooded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans with holes in the knees.

"What the hell am I looking at?" a shocked and rather disgusted Akari asked.

"According to his ID, his name was Koji Takenouchi." Kyoko explained. "Turns out we have a record on him. He dropped out of high school to enroll in Stoner University. Uniforms have picked him up a few times for petty possession. As for what the hell happened to him, you got me."

"Do you think this is some kind of viral outbreak or something?" Akari asked.

"Like I said before, we don't know what the hell this is." Kyoko told her. "The thing is, four other bodies like this poor sucker are on their way to the morgue right now. Whatever this is isn't isolated. But I assume you understand why I don't want you reporting on this, Kari. Word of something like this gets out, it could start a panic."

"I understand completely." Akari assured her. "If you like though, maybe I could give you some help with this case. I am pretty good at digging things up."

"Sure, why not?" Kyoko agreed before taking a sip from the coffee cup in her hand. "I have the feeling that for this case, I'm gonna need all the help I can get."

* * *

It was the middle of the day, and Shark had been standing in front of the door to Heartland Tower for about fifteen minutes, arguing with himself about whether or not to go in and see Hikari. Earlier that morning, Shark had come up with more than a few excuses not to go, but Durbe and Mizael had insisted that he take a little time during that day to go meet with Hikari and maybe ask her out. Apparently, Rio had contacted the two ex-Barians after she had called Shark and had told them about her brother's feelings for Hikari. Durbe and Mizael wouldn't let the matter drop and had been bugging Shark all morning about how he should at least go visit Hikari at the lab. In the end, Shark went to the tower for no other reason than to shut Mizael and Durbe up.

After debating with himself for a few more moments, Shark finally relented and went into the tower. He managed to make his way to the lab and found Hikari sitting at a computer and tapping away. There was no sign of Christopher or Kaito. Taking a deep breath, Shark entered the room and walked up to Hikari.

"Hey." Shark greeted. Hikari only continued to work at the computer, apparently not even realizing he was there. "Uh, Hikari? Hello!"

At last the stardust heiress heard Shark and turned her chair to face him. "Oh, hi Ryoga. Sorry if I ignored you just now. I tend to tune out the rest of the world when I'm hard at work on something."

"It's okay." Shark assured her, his face turning a little red. "So… is everything going okay here?"

"More or less." Hikari answered. "It's a pretty ambitious project your friends here have going on. Anyway, I was hoping you'd stop by. So what brings you here?"

"Well… I wanted to ask if you'd like to go with me somewhere later." Shark explained. "There's this little sidewalk café you might like. I've never been there, but Rio says it's great."

"Sounds good." Hikari agreed. "I'm free later this evening at about 6:00. If you like, we can meet up back here."

"Sure." Shark agreed, surprised that Hikari had accepted his invitation. "Well, I better get going. I kind of left school to come here and see you."

"Yeah, I kind of gathered that from the way you were dressed." Hikari replied, noting Shark's school uniform. "It's time like these when I'm glad I graduated high school when I was twelve."

Shark almost fell over when he heard that Hikari had graduated when high school when she was just twelve. He wasn't entirely surprised, considering that her father was a genius. Even so, it made her seem more out of his league than before.

"Yeah, well… I'll see you later tonight then." Shark replied. "Later." And with that, headed out of the lab.

* * *

Kaito flew over the city using Orbital's flight mode, heading for the hotel that Gauche and Droite had been staying out. He had been searching the city for hours trying to find Droite and hitting nothing but dead ends. In moments, Kaito landed in front of the hotel and Orbital changed back to his normal robot mode. By the time he got there, Gauche approached him from just down the sidewalk.

"Any luck?" Kaito asked.

"I've checked every place I could think of, and nothing!" Gauche answered. "What about you?"

"I haven't had any luck finding her either." Kaito answered. "I've been having Orbital checking hospital records, and so far no one matching Droite's description has been checked in anywhere since last night."

"Well, I guess that's something." Gauche assumed.

"M-Master Kaito. What about the other thing I mentioned earlier?" Orbital cut in.

"What other thing?" Gauche asked.

At this, Kaito sighed. "It seems that in the past few hours, the police have found six bodies that are in an indescribable condition."

"You think there's a chance that Droite might be one of them?" Gauche asked.

"I really hope that's not the case." Kaito answered. "But we can't afford to jump to any conclusions. Let's just keep looking for now. One way or another, we're bound to find Droite eventually."

* * *

It was a little before 6:00 as Shark waited in front of Heartland Tower by his motorcycle, wearing his usual casual outfit. As he waited, Shark pulled out his deck to look at some of his cards. The card he immediately went for was an Xyz Monster called Number 101: Silent Honors ARK. Since the destruction of Don Thousand and Shark's defeat at the hands of Yuma and Astral, that card and all the other 10X Numbers had been purified of the wicked Barian's curse. Those seven cards truly belonged to Shark and the rest of the former Emperors. Even so, Number 101 was a reminder to Shark of what he once was and the terrible things he had done. Shark was snapped from his thoughts when he heard the tower door slide open and saw Hikari walk out.

"Hello again." Hikari greeted before noticing Shark's motorcycle. "Wow! That's a pretty nice ride you've got there."

"Thanks." Shark replied. "I hooked up the sidecar for you."

"That's thoughtful of you, but I actually have my own ride." Hikari revealed.

With that, Hikari pulled out her D-Gazer and pressed a small button on it. Suddenly driving up on its own from around the corner to pull up behind Shark's vehicle was a white motorcycle with short blue stripes on the front. Shark recognized the vehicle as the D-Wheel belonging to Hikari's father, only instead of the curved spike that came up in back it had an actual backrest and a jet booster with a pair of wing-like fins.

"Is that your dad's D-Wheel?" Shark asked.

"The design's based on his. I just made a few of my own modifications." Hikari answered as she walked over and mounted the vehicle. "Well, lead the way."

Shark mounted his own vehicle and drove off down the street. Hikari followed close behind. They drove through the city until they came to a little café on a street corner called the _Cloud 9 Café_. After they pulled up, the two went over and seated themselves at one of the little tables outside. A waitress quickly came over and gave them their menus. After they ordered what they wanted, the waitress left and the two were once again alone.

"This certainly does seem like a nice little café." Hikari remarked as she took the place in. "You'll have thank Rio for me later."

"Uh, Hikari… there's something I think I should go ahead and tell you about." Shark began somewhat hesitantly.

"What is it?" Hikari asked, noticing the serious expression on Shark's face.

"Well… to understand, I think I need to show you something first." Shark answered before pulling out his deck and handing it to her. "Go ahead and look through it."

Hikari shrugged and began looking over Shark's deck. "Wow, no wonder Kaito keeps calling you Shark. Look at all these fish monsters." She paused when she came upon a certain Spell card. "Rank-Up Magic Barian's Force? I've never heard of this card before."

"Keep looking. There are a few other cards like that in there." Shark revealed.

Hikari continued to look and saw another copy of Barian's Force and a couple of similar Spell cards. She then came upon the card for Number 101 and took a good long look at it. Hikari noticed that the Xyz Monster card was indeed very unique.

"Well, these are certainly some interesting cards." Hikari admitted as she handed the deck back to Shark. "But what's the big deal about them?"

"Some of those cards aren't from Earth." Shark explained. "Hikari, you probably aren't going to even believe what I'm about to tell you… but I think you have a right to know. I wasn't always just a normal human."

With that, Shark began to tell Hikari about his time as Nasch, the leader of the Seven Barian Emperors. He revealed how in his past life he was the ruler of a lost oceanic kingdom, and how at the end of that life he willingly accepted the curse of Don Thousand to be reborn as a Barian. Shark also revealed how he was reborn a second time as the "real" Ryoga Kamishio after he and his sister were betrayed by Vector, and of how he almost destroyed Earth and Astral World for the sake of his own people, only to be defeated and revived again as a normal human using the Numeron Code. Hikiari listened intently to the whole story.

"…So now you know." Shark spoke after finishing his tale. "Guess I'm no longer the Ryoga Kamishiro you knew when we were younger, huh?"

"That is quite the story." Hikari admitted. "Well, as long as we're catching up, I might as well tell you about my little secret."

With that, Hikari removed the glove on her right arm and raised it to show Shark. On her right forearm was a red mark that resembled the head of a dragon.

"You got a tattoo?" Shark asked.

"It's not a tattoo. It's more like a birthmark." Hikari explained. "There's this cosmic entity called the Crimson Dragon that's sort of an ancient protector of Earth. Every now and then, it chooses a group of humans to help it do that job. Those humans are known as Signers, and I'm the leader of the group of Signers that exist today."

"How did you end up with that job?" Shark asked.

"I sort of inherited it from my dad." Hikari explained as she put her glove back on. "That mark on my arm used to belong to him. My younger sister, Hana has the Signer mark that belonged to my mom."

"When did this happen?" Shark asked.

"About two years ago, which I guess is around the same time all that Barian stuff was going on with you and your sister." Hikari answered. "We were chosen by the Crimson Dragon to protect Neo Domino and the rest of the world from a great evil."

"What kind of evil?" an even more curious Shark asked.

"Well… it's a long story, and one that's hard for me to talk about." Hikari answered. "There's one more thing I should probably show you though."

Hikari looked around and spotted an old soda can that happened to be on the ground near her chair. She picked the can up and held it in the palm of her hand before Shark. To Shark's surprise, an invisible force suddenly crushed the can flat.

"Did… did you just crush that can?" a surprised Shark asked.

"Yep. Just a little talent that I inherited from my mom." Hikari revealed. "My sister has the same power too. I could actually do the same thing to a car if I wanted. But as you can see Ryoga, you're not the only one with a weird supernatural past."

"I guess." Shark replied. "But at least you're a protector of Earth. I was a destroyer. And knowing what you know about me now, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want anything to do with me anymore."

"Ryoga, don't be silly." Hikari told him as she reached across the table and placed her hand on his. "You did those things because you were trying to help your friends and your people. And maybe those things were wrong, but you were also being used by some evil alien entity. Besides, everything obviously turned out okay. Your dark past as Nasch doesn't mean a thing to me."

"Yeah, well… there's some other bad stuff you should know about me too." Shark revealed. "After an accident that put Rio in the hospital, I ended up as sort of a delinquent for awhile."

"Oh please, my dad was in a gang when he was sixteen." Hikari revealed. "Plus both my parents were in jail for a while."

"Wait, back up!" Shark told her, his eyes widening in disbelief. "Yusei and Aki Fudo, two of the finest people in Neo Domino, are ex-cons?"

"Well, it was long before I was born, and it's complicated." Hikari explained. "Part of it had to do with the corrupt government that was running Neo Domino at the time. But what I'm telling you Ryoga is that I don't care about any dark thing from your past. No matter what, you're still the same Ryoga to me."

Shark was stunned by what Hikari had just told him. She now knew everything about his wicked past and didn't care. It made her seem even more perfect in Shark's eyes before. At last the waitress came back with the food they had ordered. The two of them ate and told each other about more of the things that had happened in their lives since that summer when they first met. Eventually, their meal came to an end and the two of them went back to the Kamishiro mansion.

After they pulled up by the house, Shark dismounted his cycle and walked over to Hikari. "Well, I hope you had a good time. I sure did."

"I had a good time too." Hikari told him.

"You know… we could do this again sometime." Shark suggested as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Unless of course this was just a onetime thing, which I'd totally be okay with. But if you like…"

Hikari shut Shark up by planting a kiss firmly on his lips. After a moment, Hikari pulled away and Shark felt like the world was spinning.

"See you around, Ryoga." Hikari told him with a wink before driving off.

It took Shark a few moments to fully comprehend what had just happened. Hikari Fudo, the smartest and most beautiful girl he knew, was actually interested. As Shark finally walked back to the house, he pinched himself a couple of times to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

* * *

The night had grown late as a team of medical examiners entered the morgue to examine the shriveled corpses that the police had been bringing in. There had been seven bodies found in all, with a chance of even more popping up later on. So far, the examiners had been able to determine that whatever had happened to those seven people wasn't the result for some sort of mutant virus. Which meant that there was no need for any sort of quarantine procedures. Yet the cause of what killed those seven people and turned them into mummies was a complete mystery that needed to be solved.

The leader of the examination team took Genta's body to examine, while the rest took the remaining bodies. As the team leader was about to begin the autopsy, Genta's eyes opened and he grabbed the examiner by his shirt with his withered hand. The same thing was happening with the other bodies that were about to be autopsied. The members of the examination team all opened their mouths to scream, but as soon as they did, streams of purple energy began to flow out from their mouths into the open mouths of the shriveled corpses. As the energy flowed, the bodies of the examiners began to shrivel up. Inversely, the bodies they were about to examine were gaining new life. All the assistants in the room could do was watch in horror.

After a few moments, the flow of energy stopped and the once dead bodies had gained new life. The examiners on the other hand had taken their place as desiccated mummies, though it seemed that the condition was temporary. The assistants in the room tried to flee, but a few of the newly resurrected bodies quickly stopped them and drained them of energy just as they had done to their superiors. Genta and his fellow walking dead all knew what they had become. It was instinct more than anything else that told them. But they all knew that they had a mistress to serve, and there was much work that needed to be done.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry that Droite wasn't in this chapter very much. This chapter ended up being more about developing Shark and Hikari's relationship, which is kind of unavoidable. As I mentioned earlier, I plan to do another story that'll end up being a prequel to this one that tells of how Hikari became the leader of a new generation of Signers.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. The Growing Plague

**Author's Note:** I wasn't sure if I'd get this chapter done today, or if I'd even get it started. Today has been a very sad day for me, as my cat of almost seventeen years finally passed away this morning. He had been doing okay for the past few days, but during the night he had some kind of massive stroke. My dad and I had no choice but to take him to the vet's to put him down. If this were any other story I was working on, I'd probably put it on an indefinite hiatus like I did with another story when this whole thing with my cat started. But in this case, I feel like I need to keep working on this thing. The fact is I started developing this story in the first place to deal with some other stress I've been going through, and writing this chapter today has been helpful with what I'm going through. So on with the show.

I'd like to thank K.I.T.T. RIDER real quick for reviewing my last chapter. It really was encouraging.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 4: The Growing Plague

Akari awoke early in the morning on the couch of the Tsukumo house. She had been pulling an all-nighter trying to determine a link between the seven people who had ended up as shriveled corpses. As far as she could tell, there was nothing at all that connected those seven people together. It seemed that their deaths were completely random. Just as Akari was about to get up to grab a quick breakfast before resuming her investigation, her D-Gazer began to ring. The Caller ID told her that it was Kyoko.

The redhead accepted the call and Kyoko's face appeared on screen. "Hey Kyoko, did you find something?"

_"We've got problems, Kari."_ Kyoko told her. _"Those seven mummies have vanished, and it seems like the M.E.'s that were about to do the autopsy vanished with them."_

"Are you serious?" Akari exclaimed as she rose to her feet.

_"Yeah, and it gets weirder."_ Kyoko continued. _"The surveillance feed from the morgue also went down last night, which means we have no clue about who or what happened in there. But what's worse is that we've been getting more and more reports of people who vanished last night."_

"Have there been more bodies?" Akari asked.

_"Not so far, but we've got even more trouble."_ Kyoko answered. _"This morning, some idiot janitor at the morgue blabbed about what's going on to a reporter he knows. News of the disappearances has also gotten out. By this afternoon, the whole city is gonna know about what's going on. We'll be lucky if panic doesn't break out."_

"What can I do to help?" Akari asked.

_"You just keep doing what you're doing."_ Kyoko told her. _"Have any luck finding a link between our first seven victims?"_

"Afraid not." Akari answered. "Seems like whatever happened to them was totally random."

_"Damn!"_ Kyoko cursed. _"I was afraid it'd be something like this. This means who or whatever is doing this is just picking off the first people it sees."_

"There might still be a common link that we're just not seeing yet." Akari told her. "Why don't you send me what you can on the other people who've turned up missing and I'll see what I can dig up?"

_"Okay, but it's gonna be a long list."_ Kyoko warned. _"In the meantime, you might want to stay in tonight just to be safe."_

"Will do." Akari agreed. "I'll let you know the moment I find something. Later."

* * *

Hikari was in the lab typing away at one of the computers. It seemed that her initial assumption about the reactor Kaito and Christopher had been using was correct. Due to a programing error, the reactor was putting out more power than was needed to open a portal. This meant that all that was needed to adjust the control software so that the reactor would put out the right amount of power without causing an overload. As Hikari began to correct another line of code, her D-Gazer began to ring.

Looking at the Caller ID, Hikari saw that it was her younger sister, Hana Fudo. Hikari put the device on so that she could continue to work while speaking. Before her eye appeared the image of a young woman with blue eyes and red hair with long pigtails.

_"Hi sis!"_ Hana greeted in a cheerful manner. _"Just calling to see how you were."_

"I'm doing pretty good." Hikari replied. "How're things back home?"

_"Pretty good. Uncle Crow came by for a short visit yesterday."_ Hana answered. _"How're things in Heartland?"_

"Not bad, I guess." Hikari answered. "Hey, do you remember Ryoga Kamishiro?"

_"Sure I do."_ Hana replied. _"I also remember how you went gaga over him."_

"Well, I wouldn't say I went gaga over him. But I did like him a lot back then." Hikari admitted. "Anyway, he's still here in the city. He's still the same as he was all those years ago, more or less."

_"Really."_ Hana replied with a sly grin. _"So spill, has anything been going on between the two?"_

"Well, we did go on sort of a date yesterday." Hikari admitted. "And I kinda… kissed him before I left."

_"Good for you, sis!"_ Hana praised. _"It's about time you got yourself a new boyfriend."_

"Yeah, but…" Hikari began as her expression saddened a bit. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for this kind of relationship again."

_"Look Hikari, you've been single for two years now."_ Hana pointed out. _"I think you've given yourself more than enough time to heal. You can't be afraid to get yourself back out there forever. Besides, I'm sure what happened with… him… won't happen with someone like Ryoga."_

"Yeah… maybe you're right." Hikari replied. "Thanks, sis."

_"Call me if you need anything, okay?"_ Hana told her. _"I better get going now. Talk to you later."_

"Later." Hikari replied. With that, the line went dead and Hikari resumed her work.

* * *

It was fairly late in the afternoon as Shark and Durbe sat in the living room of the Kamishiro mansion watching T.V. The station they had on was reporting on the disappearances from the night before. Both of them were quite troubled by what they were hearing.

"We may need to do something about this, Nasch." Durbe told Shark.

"I kinda figured you'd say that." Shark replied.

"I like to believe that one of the reasons Astral left the 10X Numbers with us was so we could use them to protect this world." Durbe continued as he adjusted his glasses. "And I can sense that there's a dark power responsible for these disappearances. Don't tell me you don't feel the same thing."

"Yeah, I can sense it too. The problem is, we don't know what the hell we're up against." Shark pointed out.

"Indeed. We may need to do a little investigation of our own." Durbe agreed.

"We should probably get Yuma and Kaito in on this too." Shark decided. "We may need all the help we can get."

"Nasch, your girlfriend's here!" Alit called from outside the room, causing Shark to flinch.

"Oh, Ms. Fudo's come to visit." Durbe observed. "I'll go gather the others to tell them what's going on while the two of you talk. You can join us when you're ready."

Shark nodded and with that, Durbe left the room. After a moment, Shark got up to see Hikari at the front door, only to find her already in the room.

"Hi." Hikari greeted with a wave. "Your friend at the door let me in."

"That was Alit you just met." Shark explained. "Most of the others are here somewhere too."

"So, the rest of those Barian Emperors live with you?" Hikari asked.

"It's a big house." Shark replied with a shrug.

"Does the crazy one live here too?" Hikari asked. "You know, the one who betrayed you and your sister?"

"Vector? Nah, he doesn't live here." Shark answered. "I don't know where the hell his hideout is. He does drop by every now and then though. So is there a reason you dropped by?"

"Well, there's something I want to talk to you about." Hikari revealed. "Mind if we sit down?"

Shark nodded and the two of them went over to the couch. As soon as they sat down, Shark waited patiently for Hikari to speak.

"…Ryoga, I'm sure I made it pretty clear that I'm interested in you." Hikari began. "Well… before things get any further between us, I think you should know that my last relationship ended pretty badly."

"What happened?" Shark asked.

"You know the evil I told you about that threatened Neo Domino two years ago? The one that the other Signers and I had to fight?" Hikari reminded him. "That evil was my last boyfriend."

"Seriously?" a surprised Shark asked.

Hikari nodded. "We had been seeing each other for almost a year, and things had gotten pretty serious between us. I was just crazy about him… but it turned out he didn't feel the same way about me. All along, he had just been using me and the other Signers to revive an evil version of the Crimson Dragon and reshape the world into his twisted version of what it should be."

"So you had to take him down." Shark realized.

Hikari nodded again as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Defeating him was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I haven't been in a relationship since. I think I'm ready to open myself up again, but I'm still a bit vulnerable. I don't know where this thing we have is going, but I wanted to let you know what you're getting yourself into."

"It's fine. I don't know where all this is going either." Shark replied. "But we can take this as far and as fast as you want. I don't want to pressure you into anything you're not ready for."

Hikari smiled and put her hand on Shark's. At that moment, Durbe walked into the room and cleared his throat, getting the couple's attention.

"Forgive the interruption Nasch, but everyone's waiting to begin." Durbe announced. "And unfortunately, Mizael's getting a little impatient."

Shark sighed and rose to his feet. "Yeah, I suppose we should get this started."

"What's going on?" Hikari asked.

"You know about those disappearances that have been going on in the city? We think there's some kind of powerful evil behind it." Shark explained. "And we're probably the only ones in this city who can take it on."

"Let me help then." Hikari requested as she stood up. "I am a Signer, after all. I should be able to handle whatever we might be up against."

"We are a little short handed with Merag away." Durbe pointed out.

"Fine then." Shark agreed. "Let's get to it."

* * *

Kaito entered the lab at Heartland Tower with Orbital at his side. He found Christopher standing in front of one of the computers looking closely at something on screen.

"This better be important." Kaito told Christopher as he walked up.

"I'm not sure how important this information is, but it may have something to do with what's happened to Droite." Christopher began. "The good news is that Hikari was right about the control program for the reactor. It was putting out far too much power. Fortunately, she was able to correct the system to allow the reactor to create a portal efficiently and with less power."

"I don't see what that has to do with what's happened to Droite." Kaito told him with a hint of impatiens.

"I took a closer look at the data from the night of the accident, and it turns out we did create a portal to another dimension." Christopher continued. "Though it was a very small one."

"And unstable." Kaito added. "It obviously imploded and the resulting power surge hit Droite."

"Actually, the portal was quite stable." Christopher revealed. "And it would've grown larger if the reactor hadn't overloaded. The discharge that struck Droite came from something on the other side of the portal."

"So… what does that mean?" a surprised Kaito asked. "Are you saying that something from the other side of that portal attacked Droite?"

"I'm not sure what exactly happened." Christopher answered. "For all we know, we have simply opened up a portal to a dimension filled with random energy discharges. Even so, I believe we may have found a clue of some kind. I'm just not sure what sort of clue."

Kaito huffed and began to head for the door with Orbital. "Let me know if you actually find something useful. I don't have time for this right now."

With that, Kaito exited the lab with his faithful robot following close behind. Christopher sighed and shook his head before turning his attention back to the screen.

* * *

The evening was starting to grow late as Akari continued to work. She looked at the clock on the wall for what was probably the tenth time, waiting for Yuma to get back. Even though she knew that her younger brother was more than capable of taking care of himself, she couldn't help but worry with some unknown force out there reducing people to shriveled mummies. Akari was stirred from her thoughts by a suddenly knock at the door. Cautiously, Akari got up to answer the door, grabbing a baseball bat that happened to be lying around on the way there.

With her blunt instrument raise, Akari opened the door and found Droite on the other side. The butterfly duelist had on a simple brown trench coat.

"Oh, it's you, Droite." Akari spoke, breathing a sigh of relief as she lowered her bat.

"Sorry for dropping by so late." Droite told her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Just can't be too careful with the craziness going on right now." Akari answered. "If you're looking for Yuma or his friends, they're not here."

"That's fine." Droite replied. "Mind if I come in for a few minutes?"

"Um, I guess that's okay." Akari agreed. "Make yourself at home."

With that, Akari moved aside to allow Droite to enter. Droite walked in and sat down on the couch.

"Would you like something to drink?" Akari asked. "I think we have a couple of cans of soda."

"I don't really drink soda." Droite replied.

"That's fine." Akari told her as she went to the fridge. "I was actually about to start on dinner. I've had to do the cooking since my grandma left on her little trip. Yuma should be back soon, so if you like you could join…"

Before Akari could finish her sentence, she turned around and saw Droite standing right in front of her. Droite moved in and backed the redhead up against the fridge.

"Uh, Droite… is everything okay?" Akari asked, becoming a little uneasy.

"You know Akari, you really are a very pretty girl." Droite told her.

"…Are you feeling okay?" the redhead asked, becoming even more uncomfortable.

"And such pretty eyes." Droite continued. "Tell me Akari, don't you think my eyes are pretty."

Akari looked at Droite's orange eyes and suddenly found herself transfixed by them. There was just something hypnotic about those orange orbs that made it impossible for the redhead to look away. With Akari under her spell, Droite moved in and placed her lips firmly on the redheads. Akari glowed with a purple aura as the energy began to flow.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So there was a little more elusion to the events of the 5D's Alternative sequel I intend to do in the future. I actually hope I'm not spoiling too much from that story. Of course I don't have all the details for it worked out yet.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. They Live by Night

**Author's Note:** I probably would've had this chapter done yesterday, but I had to attend the memorial service for a relative. It really hasn't been a good couple of weeks for me and my family. Still, writing this story helps a lot. Big thanks to K.I.T.T. RIDER and Lily Nadeshico for reviewing last time.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 5: They Live by Night

The sun had almost set completely as Yuma walked to his house with Kotori. Also with the couple was a young woman with long silver hair with points at the top like a pair of cat ears wearing a pair of dark glasses. This of course was Yuma's friend and Kotori's old romantic rival, Cathy. Earlier that evening, Yuma and Kotori had gone to a movie together and had bumped into Cathy in the theater. The three of them ended up watching the movie together, and when it ended Yuma had invited Cathy over for dinner, much to Kotori's annoyance.

"That really was a good movie." Cathy remarked as they walked. "Could've used a few more cats though."

"Don't you have something better to do tonight, Cathy?" Kotori asked.

"Actually, I had planned to watch that movie with my boyfriend, but he ended calling me and told me something had come up and he couldn't make it." Cathy replied.

"I see. And who is this 'boyfriend' of yours?" a very skeptical Kotori asked. "This is the first I've heard of him."

"I can't really say at the moment. He wants to keep our relationship a secret for now, which I'm totally fine with." Cathy answered. "Anyway, thanks again for inviting me over for dinner, Yuma."

"It's no problem. Kotori and I are happy to have you join us." Yuma replied. "Right Kotori?"

As Kotori tried to keep herself from biting Yuma's head off, the three of them turned a corner and found themselves confronted by two strange-looking men with chalk-white skin and white hair. When the two men spotted the trio, they opened their mouths to reveal sharp incisor fangs and slowly began to advance on them.

"What's going on here?" an unsettled Kotori asked.

"I don't know. But something tells me that these two aren't on their way to a costume party." Yuma assumed.

Kotori hid behind Yuma as the three of them backed away from the two creatures. As they did, four more of the creatures began to advance on them from behind. Another small group of the things showed up across the street, and Yuma and his companions found that they were surrounded. Suddenly a red sports car quickly drove up and pulled right next to the three. The driver of the car was a young man with bright orange hair wearing a brown jacket with a furred collar.

Yuma instantly recognized the driver. "Vector?"

"Get in!" Vector told them.

Not needing to be told twice, Yuma got into the front seat of Vector's car while Kotori and Cathy got in back. Vector sped off down the road, leaving the strange group of human-like creatures in the dust.

"Thanks for saving us back there." Yuma told Vector. "This is a pretty cool car. Where'd you get it?"

"I borrowed it." Vector answered.

"More likely you stole it." Kotori assumed.

"Hey, I'm just taking this baby for a test drive." Vector innocently told her. "One that's been going on for… oh, about three weeks now."

"How'd you know to come save us?" Yuma asked.

"The way things are right now, I had a pretty good hunch that you might be in trouble." Vector answered. "This whole city's probably gonna go to hell before the night's over."

"Do you know what those things that came after us are?" Cathy asked.

"Not really, but I know that they used to be human." Vector answered. "If I hadn't gotten to you guys in time, you'd all be one of them right now. Anyway, right now we have to get to Nasch's place. We're going to need all the help we can get if we want to stop things from getting worse."

"I'll call Kaito and Gauche to meet us there." Yuma decided. "We'll probably need their help too."

"I can tell you guys one thing for sure." Vector continued. "Whatever's going on, we're gonna be in for a long night."

* * *

Christopher sat in the lab, analyzing the data from the night of Droite's accident. He hoped that if he could somehow figure out what dimension the energy had come from he'd be closer to finding out just what had happened to Droite. Unfortunately, the only thing Christopher could determine was that the energy surge had not come from Astral World. He had been hitting dead ends all evening.

"Chris." A very familiar voice called.

Christopher instantly recognized the voice as Akari's and turned his chair toward the door. What Christopher saw next made his jaw drop and caused his pants to become uncomfortably tight. Akari was standing in the doorway wearing nothing but a smile. Rather than being in its usual ponytail, Akari's hair hung down wildly. Christopher noticed that Akari seemed a bit pale, but that just made her seem even more beautiful.

"Uh, A-Akari!" a blushing Christopher spoke as he rose to his feet. "What are you doing here? And why are you not dressed?"

"I thought I'd come by and surprise you." Akari answered as she walked in. "You work yourself way too hard sometimes. So I wanted to help you relax."

"Well… I supposed I could use a little break." Christopher admitted.

Akari wrapped her arms around Christopher and the two of them began to kiss. As soon as they did though, Christopher began to glow with a purple aura as the redhead began to drain the energy from him.

* * *

As Vector pulled his car up by the Kamishiro mansion, Kaito landed nearby using Orbital. Gauche pulled up behind Vector's car on a motorcycle soon after. After Orbital changed back to his robot mode, the seven of them went up to the door. Shark answered, and after Yuma had explained a little of what was going on, he let them inside. The water duelist led the group to the living room, where the rest of the former Barians and Hikari were still discussing what to do about the disappearances.

"Looks like we've got more problems." Shark informed them as they walked in. "Yuma, Kotori and Cathy were just attacked by creatures that Vector says were once human."

"Are you alright Cathy?" Mizael asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Cathy assured him. "I probably wouldn't be though if Vector hadn't shown up."

"Vector, what makes you think that these creatures you speak of were once human?" Durbe asked.

"Because I've seen a few of them get changed with my own eyes." Vector answered. "And if you don't believe me, I've got proof." With that, he pulled out a case with a DVD in it from his jacket.

"What's that?" Alit asked, pointing to the disc.

"Surveillance video from the city morgue that I managed to get my hands on." Vector explained. "I was going to bring this by to show you all earlier, but I got caught up with something else."

Skeptical, Shark went over and took the DVD from Vector. He then turned the T.V. on and inserted the disc into the player. Everyone watched closely as the team of medical examiners on the screen were about to perform an autopsy on seven shriveled corpses, only for those corpses to come to life and drain them of energy, reducing them to the same state. A few moments after this happened the screen went to static.

"I can tell you that those autopsy guys we just saw came back to life later and drained a few other poor suckers." Vector informed them. "By morning, they and every other one of those creatures went off somewhere to hide. It seems that they're only active at night. Right now the number of those things is growing. A lot of the new ones like the ones that attacked Yuma and the girls don't quite look human. I guess it's because they're third or fourth generation or something."

"But what the hell are they?" Gauche wondered.

"I think I might know." Hikari spoke, getting everyone else's attention. "Or at least I know what we could consider these things to be. I'm not really sure I should say though because you'll probably think it's weird."

"Hikari, we're pretty used to seeing a lot of weird stuff." Shark assured her. "Just go ahead and tell us."

"Okay then… I think the creatures we're dealing with are vampires." Hikari told them. The rest of the group simply looked at her quizzically for a moment.

"She's right. That is weird." Alit declared. Shark slapped Alit on the back of the head.

"Look, obviously these aren't the traditional vampires we hear about in stories." Hikari continued. "Instead of drinking blood, these things seem to drain the actual life energy from a person's body. But every person that gets drained ends up becoming another one of the creatures. Plus there's the fact that these things are only active at night."

"Okay, so let's say these things are really vampires. That still doesn't answer the question of where these things came from." Kaito pointed out.

"I think I might be able to help with that too." Vector cut in. "I was there when one of those seven original corpses from the video we just saw was drained. The one who did it was that butterfly woman that Kaito seems so fond of."

"Wait, you're saying Droite drained one of those early victims?" a surprised Kaito asked.

"Yep. Saw it with my own eyes." Vector confirmed. "As far as I can tell, she's the very first one of these creatures to show up."

"M-Master Kaito, maybe that accident from a couple of nights ago has something to do with this." Orbital suggested.

"Quiet, Orbital!" Kaito angrily ordered.

"Wait, what accident?" Gauche asked. "You never said anything about an accident to me."

"Is this the same accident you told me about when I first started working with you and Christopher?" Hikari asked.

"I'm sure that it has nothing to do with what's going on." Kaito told them.

"Kaito, if there's a chance that whatever you and Chris have been working on has something to do with what's happening, you should let us in on it." Yuma told him.

"I'm sure it has nothing to do with this!" Kaito insisted.

"Kaito and Christopher called me in to help with a project that uses a Momentum Reactor to open portals to other dimensions." Hikari informed them. "Apparently the night before I showed up, Kaito's friend was in the lab during their first attempt to create a portal and was hit by a power serge."

"You son of a bitch!" Gauche cursed as he stormed towards Kaito. Gilag and Alit quickly moved in and held him back. "How the hell could you keep something like this from me?"

"T-t-this afternoon, Christopher found that the portal from the accident was stable." Orbital revealed. "It seems that the energy surge that hit Droite had come from the dimension on the other side."

"So this energy you're talking about might've mutated Droite into some kind of energy draining vampire." Hikari theorized.

"We don't know that's what happened!" Kaito pointed out. "For all we know, another one of these creatures got to Droite that same night and changed her into one of these things. She could be just another victim."

"I suppose that is possible." Hikari admitted. "But if you're right, where did that first creature come from? Right now that accident is our only clear lead. Until we find evidence to the contrary, we have to assume for now that Droite is our patient zero for these things."

"Look, whether or not Droite is the first one of these vampires, it doesn't answer how we're supposed to change these people back." Kotori pointed out. "There has to be some way to do that."

"Well, in some of the old stories, it was possible to turn a vampire back into a human by slaying the original vampire that turned him or her." Hikari recalled. "But if we're right about the accident, the first vampire in this case would be Droite."

"I'm not going to let any of you kill Droite!" Kaito declared.

"I'm with Kaito on this! Even though it looks like this whole thing's his fault!" Gauche agreed.

"Even if we are right, killing Droite might not be the answer anyway." Hikari informed them. "In some of those old stories, killing the head vampire also causes every other vampire it created to die. Or it doesn't do anything at all. We need more information."

"Uh, guys?" Yuma spoke after glancing out the window. "We might have bigger problems right now."

The rest of the group looked out the window and saw a pillar of blue light shooting up into the sky in the distance. A mass of swirling dark clouds had begun to form at the top of the beam.

"What the hell's going on out there?" Gilag wondered.

"M-Master Kaito!" Orbital exclaimed. "The portal generator's been activated! It's opening up a portal right over the city!"

"You mean that thing's working?" Gauche asked.

"Yeah, because I fixed it earlier today." Hikari answered with a scowl. "Damn!"

"Then this could mean that Kaito might be right." Shark spoke. "It's possible whatever happened to Droite might not be an accident at all."

"What do you mean?" Alit asked.

"If that energy blast that hit Droite really did come from another dimension, then it's possible that someone or something in that dimension hit her with it deliberately." Shark theorized. "And right now, that thing is using Droite as a pawn to open up a gateway to its world so it can pass through."

"That does seem very possible." Durbe agreed. "We did the same thing Tron and Dr. Faker in order to gather the Numbers."

"If you're right and something dangerous really is trying to come through to our world, then we need to shut that portal down now!" Kaito told them.

"Then let's get to Heartland Tower!" Hikari decided.

With that, everyone left the house and headed into the city towards the tower. Hikari, Shark and Gauche led the way on their motorcycles while Yuma and Kotori rode with Vector in his car. Kaito followed from the air using Orbital, and the rest followed from an old beat-up white van that Gilag was driving. As they made their way through the city, they saw several of the more inhuman vampires like the ones that had gone after Yuma earlier roaming the streets like wild beasts. A few times they saw some of the things attack some poor soul that happened to be out and drain that person of energy. During those times, they had to resist the urge to pull over and help those people out. There was nothing they could really do to help.

After a few minutes, they finally reached the tower and found the place covered in a strange crystalline substance. They quickly parked their vehicles and headed for the tower door. But before they could get very far, a bright ball of purple light suddenly came down from the sky and stuck the ground to block their path. The light faded, and standing before them was Droite wearing a low-cut violet dress with long loose sleeves. She was barefoot, and hanging from her neck was a silver butterfly-shaped medallion with a red stone on the center.

"Droite!" a stunned Kaito called.

"If you've come to shut down the gateway, I cannot let any of you pass." Droite told them. "Instead, you should make things easy on yourselves and join with me."

"Droite, what the hell are you doing?" Gauche demanded to know. "What is all this?"

"I have opened the doorway to allow the rest of my people to cross over to this world." Droite answered. "It will not be very long before they come."

"Your people?" a confused Kaito asked. "Droite, what are you talking about?"

"I've awakened to who and what I truly am." Droite told them. "If you truly intend to shut down the gate, then you'll all have to go through me. I will do everything in my power to stop you."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hadn't originally planned for Cathy to show up at all in this story. I did it as kind of a spur of the moment thing to set up this weird idea I had for a character relationship. If you look closely, there's kind of a small hint to who Cathy's mystery boyfriend is in this chapter. By the way, the necklace Droite was wearing in the final scene is shown in the cover art I made for this story. It's also going to be the illustration of a card that Droite is going to use in the next chapter. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	7. Queen of the Undead

**Author's Note:** Ordinarily I don't work on any of my fanfics on a Saturday, but this story's a little different. Plus I've got another online class starting in a couple of weeks and I want to get as much of this story done before then as I can. So enjoy this special Saturday afternoon treat.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 6: Queen of the Undead

"You're not making any sense, Droite!" Kaito told her. "What do you mean when you say that these things… these vampires are your people?"

"The fact is I was never truly a human being." Droite answered. "I have always been the creature that you know as a vampire, but I never awakened until that night in the lab. That night, you opened the gateway to the realm where my people sleep. It was only a crack, but it was enough for the mother goddess of my race, Morphia, to send her power through and reawaken me as my true self. I have been in contact with her ever since. And now it is my mission to bring Morphia and the rest of my people to this world."

"This is all nonsense!" Gauche declared. "I don't know what the hell that accident did to you Droite, but you've obviously lost it! Do you really expect us to believe that you were never human? That's garbage!"

"Believe what you want." Droite coldly told him. "But if you truly intend to try and shut the gateway, you must defeat me first."

"Fine then! I'll take you down!" Gauche decided.

"Gauche, wait! Are you sure about this?" Yuma asked.

"Back off, Yuma! I know what I'm doing!" Gauche told him. "I'm gonna duel Droite and knock some sense into her!"

"So be it." Droite agreed.

With that, Droite and Gauche activated their duel disks and D-Gazer tattoos to begin the duel. Everyone else in the group quickly activated their own D-Gazers to watch. The color of the surrounding area changed slightly and several holographic screens appeared in the air.

"I'll start things off!" Droite declared as she drew her first card. "I summon Swallowtail Butterspy in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Droite's side of the field was a female monster with a humanoid upper half and a pair of large stunning orange and black butterfly wings on her back. Parts of her upper body were covered in white armor and a white helmet covered the upper half of her face.

"Since I just summoned a monster, I also summon Blue Mountain Butterspy from my hand!" Droite announced.

Materializing next to Swallowtail was another butterfly woman with a large beautiful pair of blue butterfly wings on her back. She had on blue armor, and in each hand carried a small shield.

"Using these two level four monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon the priestess of the undead!" Droite announced. "Arise, Dead Star Butterfly Priestess!"

A large vortex of purple light appeared in the middle of the battlefield, causing Droite's two monsters to turn into balls of purple energy and be sucked in. Rising out of the vortex moments later was a woman with chalk-white skin with a large pair of purple butterfly wings on her back. She had white hair styled like Droite's and orange eyes with slit pupils like a cat's. Atop her head was a crown of black flowers, and a black stocking covered the lower half of face and her neck. She had on a light-blue dress with two slits in the sides of the skirt that went down just past her knees, along with a pair of black knee-high high-heeled boots and black elbow-high gloves. Hanging from her neck was a butterfly-shaped necklace like the one Droite was wearing. Orbiting around the new monster were two balls of purple light.

"That ends my turn." Droite announced.

"Droite must be pretty confident about that monster she just played." Hikari assumed.

"It's not just confidence." Kaito told her. "I know Droite pretty well. She wouldn't have summoned that new monster of hers unprotected unless she was sure it could survive through the next turn. Gauche on the other hand can act pretty reckless sometimes, especially at times like this when he's mad. He may not be able to win this duel."

"I'm gonna end this quick!" Gauche declared as he drew his first card. "First I activate the Spell, Reinforcement of the Army to add Heroic Challenger-Assault Halberd to my hand! Now, since you control a monster and I don't, I special summon Assault Halberd to the field!" Gauche's knight in blue materialized on the battlefield. "Next I summon Heroic Challenger-Double Lance!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a knight clad in white armor and wearing a helmet with a purple top. In each hand, the knight carried a small lance.

"Double Lance's effect allows me to use him as two overlay units for an Xyz Summon!" Gauche announced. "So using my three monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Heroic Champion-Kusanagi!"

A clone of Double Lance appeared on the battlefield next to the original. Soon after, a large vortex formed on the ground and the three warriors were turned into energy and sucked in. Rising out of the vortex moments later was Gauche's giant samurai warrior.

"Your Butterfly Priestess only has 2400 ATK, which means she's no match for Kusanagi!" Gauche declared. "Kusanagi, take out Butterfly Priestess now!"

Kusanagi moved forward and slashed Butterfly Priestess in two. The two halves of her body turned into a swarm of purple butterflies. Droite was clam as her life points took a slight drop to 3900. Moments later however, the swarm of purple butterflies reformed into Butterfly Priestess, much to the surprise of Gauche and the others.

"What the… what's going on?" Gauche demanded to know. "How the hell is that monster of yours still on the field?"

"Dead Star Xyz Monsters like my Butterfly Priestess can only be destroyed in battle by one kind of monster." Droite explained. "A Synchro Monster."

"But Gauche doesn't have any Synchro Monsters in his deck!" Yuma exclaimed.

"Nobody in this city does." Shark added. "That is, nobody except…"

"Me." Hikari finished. "I should've been the one to step up and challenge Droite."

Suddenly Kusanagi began to glow with a feint purple aura. The giant samurai soon fell to one knee with a thud.

"What's going on now?" Gauche asked.

"Any monster that battles Butterfly Priestess loses 1000 ATK at the end of that battle." Droite explained. "I now activate Butterfly Priestess's effect! During either of our turns, I can detach one overlay unit from her to destroy one monster my opponent controls with lower attack than her own! And of course the monster I choose to destroy is Heroic Champion-Kusanagi!"

One of the purple balls of light orbiting Butterfly Priestess went into the red gemstone on her necklace. The white-haired monster then raised her right hand forward and shot Kusanagi with a ball of purple energy. The giant samurai turned to dust upon being hit.

"There's more." Droite continued. "Because the monster Butterfly Priestess just destroyed with her effect was an Xyz Monster, you take damage equal to that monster's Rank times 400."

Butterfly Priestess raised her hands in the air and shot Gauche with a massive bolt of purple electricity. Gauche was knocked back a few feet by the attack and his life points dropped to 2400.

"One more thing." Droite continued. "Butterfly Priestess gains 500 ATK for each Xyz Monster in both our Graveyards, which means right now her ATK is 2900."

"Damn!" Gauche cursed as he got back to his feet. "You're really not holding anything back, are ya?"

"You should just give up." Droite told him. "It was pointless for you to go against me in the first place."

"Like hell!" Gauche told her. "I'll set two cards on the field and end my turn!"

"This really doesn't look good." A concerned Kotori observed. "Droite's monster has enough power to beat Gauche with one shot."

"Don't count Gauche out yet." Yuma told her. "I'm sure he's already come of with a defense to stop that butterfly monster of hers."

"It may not be enough." Kaito told them. "If I'm right, Droite's already anticipated Gauche's next move."

Droite calmly drew her next card. "I set one card on the field. And now Butterfly Priestess, attack Gauche directly! Life Extinguisher!"

Butterfly Priestess raised her arms forward and a crackling ball of purple energy began to form between her palms. When the ball grew large enough, the undead priestess fired a massive blast of energy towards Gauche.

Gauche's lips curved into a grin. "Nice try, but I activate my Trap, Mirror Force!"

An invisible barrier suddenly appeared in front of Gauche just as the energy blast was about to hit. The blast bounced off the barrier and curved back through the air, coming down to strike Droite's monster. Butterfly Priestess was vaporized in an instant.

"How do ya like that, huh?" Gauche taunted. "Looks like I'm not so easy to take down after all, am I?"

"…I end my turn." Droite indifferently announced.

"I'm gonna make this quick!" Gauche declared as he drew his next card. "First I play Monster Reborn and summon Assault Halberd back from the Graveyard!" The blue and white knight reappeared on the field. "Next I summon Heroic Challenger-Spartan in Attack Mode!" Gauche's Roman-armored spearman appeared next to Assault Halberd. "Using these two monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Heroic Champion-Gandiva!"

The two warriors turned into balls of yellow energy and went into another large vortex that had appeared on the battlefield. Rising out of the vortex moments later was a warrior clad completely in black and yellow armor riding a black horse. Mounted on the warrior's arm was a large crossbow.

"Now I activate my other Trap, Xyz Reborn!" Gauche announced. "Using this card as material, I summon Heroic Champion-Kusanagi back from the Graveyard!"

Another vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and Kusanagi rose out of the center. A single ball of orange light orbited around him.

"Awesome! With both Kusanagi and Gandiva, beating Droite should be no problem for Gauche now!" Yuma enthusiastically declared.

"I told you before, Yuma. It's probably not going to be that easy." Kaito reminded him.

"You think that card Droite has on the field is something that can block Gauche's attack." Shark deduced.

"That's exactly what I think." Kaito confirmed.

"Even if you're right, Gauche can use Kusanagi's effect to stop Droite's Trap." Yuma pointed out.

"Unless it isn't a Trap card." Kaito retorted.

"Kusanagi! Gandiva! Attack Droite directly and end this duel!" Gauche commanded.

"I activate my face-down card! A Quick-Play Spell known as Butterspy Mirage!" Droite announced. "By banishing two Butterspy monsters from my Graveyard, this card negates any battle damage I would take this turn!"

The ghostly images of Swallowtail and Blue Mountain appeared on Droite's side of the battlefield. Kusanagi charged forward and slashed apart the image of Swallowtail, causing it to turn into a swarm of swallowtail butterflies that flew away and vanished. Gandiva fired an arrow at the image of Blue Mountain, causing it to shatter a part into a swarm of blue butterflies that instantly flew off.

"Nice try, Gauche. But I keep telling you it's pointless." Droite calmly insisted. "There's no way you can defeat me and prevent the rest of my people from coming through."

"Will you cut out all this crap about those monsters being your people?" Gauche told her. "Droite, you and I grew up together! There is no way you could've been born as anything other than a human!"

"You forget that both you and I are orphans." Droite reminded him. "Neither of us knew who are parents were. I may have grown up as a human, but my parents were not human at all. Not long after I was born, I was placed in a small pod in stasis and jettisoned to this world in order to avoid the same fate as the rest of my people."

"And just what fate is that?" Hikari suddenly asked. "What exactly happened to the rest of your people, Droite?"

"Who are you?" the butterfly duelist asked back.

"Hikari Fudo." The stardust heiress answered.

"I see… that would make you the new leader of the Signers. A blood enemy of my people." Droite told her.

"Blood enemy? What are you talking about?" Hikari asked.

"To answer your original question, my people were sealed away by the Envoy of Astral World." Droite replied.

"Wait, does she mean Astral?" a surprised Yuma asked.

"That's right." Droite confirmed. "But now after all this time, the seal shall finally be broken! My people shall come through and be fully revived by the life force of this world."

"I still don't buy any of this crap!" Gauche declared. "And even if I did, there's no way I'm gonna let these so-called people of yours suck our world dry!"

"There's nothing you can do to stop me." Droite calmly declared as she drew her next card. "I now activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Morphia Force!"

"What the… she has her own Rank-Up Spell?" a surprised Gilag exclaimed.

"Not good!" Alit declared.

"Morphia Force allows me to revive a Dead Star Xyz Monster from the Graveyard and use it to Xyz Summon a new monster that's two Ranks higher." Droite explained. "So by the power of the mother goddess, I resurrect Butterfly Priestess and elevate her to a higher state of being!"

In a flash of purple light, a large crystal containing an unconscious Butterfly Priestess appeared on the field. A strange cold mist suddenly washed over the ground as soon as the crystal coffin appeared. Inside the crystal, Butterfly Priestess's eyes snapped open and streams of purple energy began to flow from Gauche's two monsters into the crystal. The two balls of light orbiting around the warriors were sucked into the crystal as well.

"Awaken, Dead Star Butterfly Blood Priestess!" Droite called.

The crystal shattered apart with a blinding flash of light. The light faded after a moment to reveal Droite's butterfly monster in a new form. Her white hair had grown longer and her black crown of flowers had been replaced by a pair of short red horns growing out of the top of her head. Her once orange eyes had turned red and became more savage. Her dress and wings had turned red as well, and growing from the ends of her gloved fingers were long red nails. Orbiting around the revived priestess were four crystal orbs that left trails of purple light.

"This can't be good." Cathy assumed.

"Hey, what happened to Gauche's monsters?" Kotori asked, pointing at the two warriors.

The others looked and saw that the armor of Gauche's two monsters had become old and rusted. The horse that Gandiva was riding had become a withered husk of its former self.

"What the hell did you do to my monsters, Droite?" Gauche demanded to know.

"Morphia Force also reduces the attack of all my opponent's monsters to zero and gives any overlay units to the monster I Ranked Up." Droite explained. "I now activate the effect of Butterfly Blood Priestess! By detaching any number of overlay units, she can destroy the same number of monsters you control with ATK lower than her own. So I detach two overlay units to destroy Gandiva and Kusanagi!"

Two of the crystal orbs orbiting Blood Priestess shattered and using both hand she fired to bolts of red electricity at Gauche's monsters. Both warriors became dust upon being hit.

"And now, because the monsters Blood Priestess destroyed were Xyz Monsters, you take damage equal to their Ranks times 600." Droite announced.

"But… that means Gauche takes 4800 points of damage!" Yuma realized.

Blood Priestess raised her hands above her head and fired a blast of red electrical energy at Gauche. Gauche cried out as he life points plummeted to zero. After a moment, the attack ended and Gauche was on his back, unconscious. With the duel over, Droite's monster vanished and the surrounding area returned to normal. Suddenly Gauche's unconscious form turned into purple energy and flew up into the pillar of light that was streaming into the sky from the tower.

"Gauche!" a horrified Yuma called out.

"What the hell just happened?" Alit demanded to know.

"He lost to me, so his energy has gone to my people to speed their revival." Droite answered. "But that doesn't happen to any of you. You can all become one of us and live for eternity. All expect for you, Hikari Fudo. You I'm afraid must die."

With that, more vampires began to gather around the tower. Many of them were the horrid inhuman variety that seemed to be most common.

"Damn! I think we better get the hell out of here." Shark decided.

"No argument here." Vector agreed.

"What about Gauche and Droite?" Yuma asked.

"We'll figure out what to do about them later!" Hikari answered. "Right now we better get moving!"

Everyone began to run to their vehicles as quickly as they could. Just as Hikari was about to mount her D-Wheel, one of the more inhuman vampires charged in and grabbed her by the arm. As soon as it did though, Hikari's Signer Mark began to glow, causing the creature to shriek in pain and pull its clawed hand away. The flesh of its hand was smoking as if it had just been burned. Hikari didn't bother to figure out what happened and simply mounted her D-Wheel to follow after the others.

Orbital meanwhile had only just finished changing to his wing pack mode. Kaito quickly put the robot onto his back and took off into the air.

"Kaito!" Droite called, causing the photon duelist to stop and look back. He could see a sort of pleading expression on Droite's face. "You don't have to go with them. You can join me, and together we can lead my people side by side. Please Kaito. I want you with me."

Kaito gritted his teeth. He couldn't help but find the offer somehow tempting. Even so, the photon duelist shook it off and flew after Shark and the others. As he left, a single tear rolled down Droite's cheek. Meanwhile, Hikari and Kaito managed to catch up to the rest of the group as they sped off down the road.

"So I guess we're going back to Shark's huh?" Yuma assumed, talking to the other over his D-Gazer.

"I don't think so." Shark replied. "Droite probably already has my place surrounded with her little army. She's probably expecting us to go back there."

"But if we can't go back to the mansion, where can we go?" Cathy asked.

"We'll go to my place here in the city!" Hikari told them. "We should be safe for awhile. And I may have something there that can help us stop Droite."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I ended up thinking long and hard about the Rank-Up-Magic card that Droite would be using. It ended up being sort of an odd cross between Astral Force, Barian's Force, and The Seventh One. But I figured it should be a card that revived Xyz Monsters from the Graveyard to Rank them up to fit with the whole vampire theme. And that it should suck the life from other monsters on the field. Anyway, Kaito's going to have to make a pretty big decision in the next chapter. So stay tuned.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. Vampire's Call

**Author's Note:** Just to let everyone know in advance, there are going to be some pretty steamy scenes in this chapter. One of those scenes is going to reveal the identity of Cathy's mystery boyfriend.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 7: Vampire's Call

After several minutes of driving through the city dodging vampires, Hikari and the others finally made it to a hill on the outskirts of Heartland. Atop the hill was a two-story ultra modern-looking house. The structure wasn't exactly a mansion, but it was fairly upscale. Hikari guided the others into a large garage in the base of the house. Once everyone was parked, Hikari led the others up to the house's well-furnished living room to discuss their current situation.

"Wow! This house looks awesome!" Yuma praised as he looked around. "This is really your place, Hikari?"

"In a way. This house actually belongs to my family." Hikari explained. "It's the same house we stayed in that summer I first met Ryoga and his sister. And since I came back to this city a few days ago, I've been staying here."

"You mentioned something about this place also having something we could use to stop Droite." Kotori recalled.

"Stop her plan, anyway. Or at least just slow it down." Hikari replied. "This house also has a lab in the basement that my dad would use while we were here to tinker around with stuff. Inside that lab is a pretty powerful computer that right now is linked up with the computers at Heartland Tower. It might be a long-shot, but I think I can use the computer here to shut down the portal Droite's using to bring her people here."

"What I want to know is how Droite was able to turn that portal on in the first place." Cathy interjected.

"I think I know." Kaito responded. "If the vampires really have taken over the tower, then it's probably a safe bet that Christopher is now one of them. Droite probably used him to activate the portal."

"I think that's a pretty safe assumption." Durbe agreed. "In fact it's probably safe to say that at least half the people in this city have become vampires by now."

"And it looks like I'm the only one who can stop them." Hikari assumed. "If it comes down to a duel, I'm the only one with a deck that can beat those Dead Star monsters of Droite's."

"Don't be so sure." Shark told her. "Me and the rest of the ex-Barians can probably take Droite down in a duel too."

"Nasch is right, Ms. Fudo." Durbe confirmed. "The 10X Numbers we possess have effects that can neutralize the powers of Droite's Dead Star monsters and allow us to destroy them in battle."

"Maybe that's true, but it still looks like I'm our best hope for beating these vampires." Hikari replied. "As we were fleeing the tower, one of the vampires managed to grab me. But then my Signer Mark reacted and the thing pulled away like his hand had been burned."

"So you're saying that because you're one of these 'Signers', these vampires can't touch you?" Mizael asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Pretty much." Hikari confirmed. "During that duel, Droite mentioned that I was a blood enemy of her people. This could mean that a band of Signers from long ago fought the vampires at some point."

"But Droite also said that it was Astral who sealed her people away." Yuma recalled.

"I don't know what to tell ya." Hikari replied with a shrug. "But any way you look at it, stopping these things is probably going to be all up to me."

"Maybe so, but you're not alone in this fight." Shark assured her. "We're all in this together."

"I still want to know how we're gonna turn Droite and everyone else back to normal." Yuma reminded them. "This is just as bad as when Shark and Rio became Nasch and Merag."

"There may not be a way, Yuma." Kaito told him. "In the end… we may have no choice but to kill Droite and every vampire she's created."

"But Kaito!" Yuma began to argue.

"Look, I don't like the idea anymore than you do, but we may not have a choice!" Kaito pointed out. "The fate of every life on the planet is riding on this!"

"Hold on! Let's all just slow down for a minute!" Kotori interrupted. "We don't know everything about these vampires yet. There may still be a way for us to turn them back to normal. Right now, let's just focus on closing that portal so more vampires don't come through and make things right."

"Kotori's right. Closing that portal should be our top priority right now." Shark decided. "We can worry about finding a way to change everyone back afterward."

"I'll get right on trying to shut off the portal from here." Hikari told them. "The rest of you relax and make yourselves at home. I get the feeling that this is going to be a long night."

* * *

Only half an hour had gone by since the group had arrived at Hikari's house, and Kotori was roaming the halls on the second floor looking for Kaito. Ever since the group's little talk earlier, Kotori had noticed that the photo duelist seemed quite troubled. She had seen the painful expression on Kaito's face when he suggested that their only option of stopping Droite might be to kill her. For quite some time, Kotori had suspected that Kaito had strong feelings for the butterfly duelist who was now threatening the world. And now it seemed that her suspicions had finally been confirmed.

As Kotori walked down the hall, she heard odd noises coming from inside one of the bedrooms. She saw that the door to the bedroom in question was open a crack. Against her better judgment, Kotori peeked in through the door and saw a nude Cathy on the bed inside on all fours. Plowing into her from behind was an equally nude Mizael. The blonde dragon tamer pulled one of Cathy's legs straight back so that he could plunge into her even harder.

Putting her hand to her mouth to avoid making a sound, Kotori shut the door as quickly and silently as possible. It seemed that Cathy had not been lying earlier about having a boyfriend, but she certainly hadn't wanted to find out in the way she just did. And she certainly didn't expect Cathy's boyfriend to be Mizael, of all people. Kotori walked away from the door, trying very hard to put the image of what she had just witnessed out of her mind. As she walked away though, she heard a loud cry that sounded like a meow, causing her to cringe.

Moments later, Kotori finally found Kaito at the end of the hallway looking out through a large window overlooking the city. His gaze was fixed on the beam of light shooting up from Heartland Tower.

"There you are." Kotori spoke, getting Kaito's attention. "I've been looking all over for you."

"You okay? You look a little sick." Kaito observed.

"Oh… well, let's just say I found out Mizael's a cat person." Kotori explained. Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Never mind. Anyway, I've been a little worried about you ever since that meeting we just had."

"I'm fine." Kaito told her in a very unconvincing manner.

"…Haruto's at the tower, isn't he?" Kotori realized after a moment.

"Yeah." Kaito confirmed. "He's probably one of those things by now."

"But it's not just Haruto you're worried about though, right?" Kotori deduced. "You're worried about Droite too."

"Yeah… yeah I am." Kaito admitted. "I actually care about Droite very much. But if comes down to her and the rest of the world, I may have no choice but to destroy her."

"You shouldn't give up hope." Kotori told him. "There might be a way to change her, Haruto, and everyone else back."

"But it's very likely that there isn't." Kaito pointed out. "And if that's the case… I'm willing to destroy Droite with my own hands if it means saving the rest of the world."

"Do you really think you'll actually be able to do that?" Kotori asked.

"I've done it for years." Kaito pointed out. "I sacrificed many people to gather the Numbers in order to save Haruto and the rest of the world. This is no different."

"Of course it's different!" Kotori told him. "Those Number holders were people who you didn't even know. But Droite's someone you really care about. It wouldn't be easy at all to just take a knife and stab her through the heart. Look, just give us a little time, Kaito. I'm sure we'll be able to figure out."

"…You know, I can actually feel Droite calling out to me from the tower." Kaito revealed. "She's wants me to go to her. And I'm finding it really hard not to."

"You're not thinking of doing something crazy, are you?" Kotori asked.

"…No, of course not." Kaito told her. "Now do you mind leaving me alone?"

Kotori backed down and went off down the hall. As she did, she couldn't help but fear that Kaito really was going to do something rash.

* * *

Hikari sat at the computer of the house's basement lab wearing only her shirt, pants, and necklace. She had been trying for almost three hours to shut down the portal and was having no luck. It seemed that she had been locked out of the Heartland Tower system. After what was perhaps her fiftieth time trying to break through the system's firewalls, the all too familiar words, Access Denied popped up on the computer screen in big red letters. Hikari cursed, and at the same time an old engine component on one of the tables in the lab was crushed flat by an invisible lab. The stardust heiress sighed heavily and began rubbing her temples.

"Hikari?" a familiar voice spoke.

Hikari turned her chair around and saw Shark standing in the room without a shirt on. A small towel hung down from around his neck.

"Oh, hey there." Hikari responded. "Um, why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

"Oh, I was just giving my face a quick wash when I heard a loud noise from upstairs." Shark explained with a slight blush. "Everything okay?"

"No, it's not." A frustrated Hikari answered. "I've been banging my head against a wall trying to shut down that damn portal, but I can't do it from here. I've been locked out of the system."

"Maybe you should take a break for a few minutes." Shark suggested.

"I can't afford to take a break. Everyone's depending on me to get this done." Hikari argued. "If I can't shut down the portal, every living thing on the planet is doomed."

"You can't take on everything by yourself." Shark told her. "Just step back for awhile and we'll figure something else out."

"Yeah… you're probably right." Hikari admitted. "It just seems like I'm the only one who can stop these vampires and save the world, and I can't even access a simple computer. I just feel so useless right now."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Shark asked.

Hikari turned back to Shark and looked him over. She couldn't help but look at his shirtless upper body. He certainly did seem to be in good shape for someone his age, and she was feeling like a bundle of raw nerves.

"You know… there actually is something you could do that might help." Hikari told him.

"What?" Shark asked.

Hikari got up from her chair and led Shark over to a large bed that happened to be inside the lab. It was apparently left over from the times her father would pull all-nighters to work on some of his projects. With both of them in front of the bed, Hikari took off her shirt and tossed it to the floor, revealing that she wasn't wearing a bra. Shark's jaw dropped at the sight of Hikari's nude breasts. He could feel his pants becoming extremely tight. Smiling, Hikari sauntered over to Shark and moved in for a kiss.

"Wait, Hikari." Shark told her as he pushed her away. "We probably shouldn't do this. I mean we just started going out, and…"

"Please, Ryoga." Hikari interrupted, putting her finger on his lips. "I really need you right now. And you said that we could go as fast as I wanted. So please…"

Shark was finding it very hard to resist the pleading look in Hikari's eyes. Hikari pulled Shark into an embrace and planted a firm kiss on his lips. Before Shark knew it, the blunette's tongue had entered his mouth and began to mingle with his own. The little that remained of Shark's inhibitions vanished and he moved his left hand and started massaging Hikari's right breast, causing Hikari to moan into his mouth. After a few minutes, the two broke apart for air. Hikari undid the buckle of Shark's belt and pulled down his pants and boxers in one motion.

Hikari pushed Shark back onto the bed behind him and removed her jeans and panties, leaving her only in her necklace. She bent down and gave Shark another passionate openmouthed kiss. Shark rolled them both over and got Hikari onto her back. When they broke for air again, Shark pushed his hardened rod into Hikari's womanhood. Hikari winced a bit as the rod entered her, indicating to Shark that it was her first time. Shark began to rock his hips very slowly to give Hikari time to get used to it. It was taking all of his will not to plow into her with his full strength.

After only a few moments though, Hikari wrapped her legs around Shark's waist. She was ready for him to go at full force. As Shark began to pick up his pace, Hikari sat up and wrapped her right arm around the back of Shark's neck for support. Their lips met in another very deep kiss. Hikari moaned into Shark's mouth as he continued to thrust into her at full force. They broke apart for air yet again as Shark felt Hikari's inner walls tightening around him. He could feel himself coming close to the edge as well. Then with one last hard thrust from Shark, the two of them came to a hard climax.

Hikari collapsed back onto the bed and Shark withdrew himself from Hikari and rolled onto his back next to her. Hikari took Shark's hand as they caught their breath.

"Damn!" Shark declared. "That was… that was incredible."

"No argument here." Hikari agreed as she rolled onto her side to look at him.

Shark rolled onto his side to face her. "Hikari… are you sure you're okay with what we just did?"

"Ryoga, I'm going to let you in on something." Hikari told him. "At the end of that summer years ago when we met, I was really sad that I had to leave because it meant that I probably wouldn't see you again. The truth is I had a little bit of a crush on you back then. When I came back here to this city and saw you after my duel with Gauche, those old feelings started to come back, and now they're stronger than ever. I really am in love with you, Ryoga Kamishiro."

At this, Shark smiled. "I'm really in love with you too. I've never had these feelings for any other girl then you. You really are very special to me."

The two of them gazed lovingly at one another for a few moments before they became locked in yet another kiss. As they explored one another's mouths for the fourth or fifth time of the night, Hikari's hand moved and began toying with Shark's manhood, causing him to groan into her mouth. The rod hardened in Hikari's hand, signaling that he was ready for another round. Hikari broke the kiss and got on top of Shark, positioning herself so that her back was to the water duelist. Hikari moaned a bit as the rod entered her again.

As Hikari began to move her hips, Shark managed to sit up and grab Hikari's breasts, causing Hikari to throw her head back as he began to knead them, gasping a little as he pinched her nipples. Their bodies became covered in sweat as they continued. Over time Hikari picked up her pace, bringing them both closer to the edge. After a few more glorious moments of pleasure, the two of them came to a hard climax with Hikari calling out Shark's real name at the top of her lungs. The two of them collapsed onto a heap on the bed. With the last of their strength, they managed to reposition themselves to cuddle together. Shark kissed Hikari on the forehead, and with that they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Kaito continued to silently gaze out the window towards Heartland Tower. He could still feel Droite calling out to him, and it was getting harder and harder for him to ignore that call. His heart was practically screaming at him to go to her. The house was quite, and it seemed like everyone else had gone to sleep. Not surprising, considering how late it had become. Kaito decided that he couldn't take it anymore and went off to find Orbital.

Being as quiet as he could, Kaito found Orbital down in the kitchen in sleep mode. He also found an icepick, which he believed would make a suitable substitute for a wooden stake. While the photon duelist did intend to go to the tower, he wasn't going there to join with Droite. He was going to put an end to her himself. After waking up Orbital, the two of them left the house and began to fly towards the tower.

As Kaito flew over the city, he could see the destruction that the vampires had caused. Cars were on fire. Buildings had been broken into. Heartland was quickly falling into ruins. Every now and then, Kaito could see a mob of vampires chasing down a human who had yet to be transformed. Kaito imagined for a moment what might happen to the rest of the world if the vampires were able to spread themselves beyond the limits of the city. He hoped that keeping that thought in mind would make it easier for him to do what he needed to do.

At last, Kaito and Orbital landed before the entrance to the tower. As he walked up with Orbital rolling at his side, the doors opened up on their own. Kaito walked inside, but as Orbital tried to follow a barrier of purple energy repelled him. The doors slammed shut as soon as the robot was thrown back. Kaito realized that he was going to have to do this task on his own.

Kaito walked the halls of the tower, finding the interior to be covered in some kind of strange crystal. He could feel Droite calling to him, guiding him to the place she was waiting. As he turned a corner, he could hear strange sounds coming from one of the rooms up ahead. Looking in though the transparent crystal door of the chamber, Kaito saw Chirstpher and Akari inside. Both of them were naked, and Akari was on all fours as Christopher rammed into her from behind. The couple noticed Kaito and looked at him for a brief moment. Kaito turned away from the chamber door and moved on.

After a few moments, Kaito found himself in a large cathedral-like chamber that had somehow formed beneath the tower. In the center of the chamber he saw a raised crystal coffin with a small figure inside. He ran up to the coffin only to have his worst fears confirmed. It was Haruto inside, unconscious as if he was only asleep. But Kaito knew that he had become one of the wretched things that were now laying waste to the city.

Suddenly a door in the wall to Kaito's right opened up, shining a blinding light inside. Walking in through the door was a completely nude Droite. Kaito couldn't notice how stunning she looked. She was perhaps the most beautiful creature he has ever seen. Yet he knew what he had to do. He had to remember his mission.

"I knew you would come, Kaito." Droite told him as he walked up. "I just knew that you couldn't stay away."

"I didn't come here for the reason you think, Droite." Kaito told her as he pulled out the icepick he brought.

"Of course you did." Droite told him. "I can see into your heart, Kaito. I know how you truly feel about me. I love you, Kaito. I have for a long time. And one of the best thing about this awakening is that I can see with my own eyes that you love me too."

"But… I can't love you." Kaito told her. "Not now that you've become this thing! Not after what you've done to Haruto and every other person in this city!"

"Haruto and the people of Heartland are fine." Droite assured him. "They've been given eternal life, elevated to a higher state of being. I can do the same for you, Kaito. You and I can be together for all eternity. I can make it so that you can be as my equal."

"I could never become like you!" Kaito told her. "I have to destroy you so that the rest of the world can be saved!"

"…Then do it." Droite told him with a sad expression. "I'm right here. All you have to do is stab me in the heart."

Kaito raised his icepick and prepared to swing down, but suddenly he froze. He found that he couldn't stab Droite in the heart. Despite what she had become, he was still in love with her. So much so that he almost didn't care what happened to the rest of the world. The earth could burn for all he cared, but saving it wasn't worth Droite's life. Crying out in frustration, Kaito threw the icepick across the room.

"I… I can't kill you." Kaito admitted. "You mean too much to me, Droite. Killing you would be as impossible as it would be to kill Haruto."

A smile appeared on Droite's face. "I knew you wouldn't go through with it."

"So now what?" Kaito asked. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"You know what you want to do." Droite answered. "I offer you my whole being and an eternity of bliss. All you have to do is say yes."

"But… how can I turn my back on the rest of the world?" Kaito asked.

"That's one of the things I love about you, Kaito. In the end, you've always thought of others before yourself." Droite answered. "But this time, why not put your own heart first?"

Kaito found that Droite made a good point. He usually had always put others before himself. He had sacrificed a lot for Haruto and to save the world. But maybe he had done that long enough. Maybe this was a time where he needed to follow his own heart. Besides, everything he cared about most had already been taken in by this darkness that was swarming over the world. The only thing he could do was to join with it.

As soon as Kaito dropped his guard Droite moved in and bit Kaito on the neck with her fangs. Kaito felt his entire body go cold as Droite began to suck out his blood. His heartbeat stopped and he could feel a sort of numbness spread all over him. He was changing. After a few moments, Droite finished drinking from his neck and pulled away.

"Now… drink my blood." Droite told him. "Do it, and the bond between us shall start to be formed."

Kaito felt around inside his mouth with his tongue and found that he had gained his own pair of fangs. He also found that he had some kind of powerful thirst that needed to be quenched. Instinct took over and he moved in to bit Droite near her collarbone. Droite moaned and her eyes rolled back as Kaito bit down. Kaito found that Droite's blood tasted sweeter than anything than he had tasted before. There was nothing he could think of that could even come close. After a few moments, Kaito felt that his thirst had been satisfied and pulled back.

"Very good." Droite told him. "But we've only just begun."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Kudos to my one guest reviewer for correctly guessing that Mizael was Cathy's boyfriend. That pairing just kind of came to me a few days ago. I don't know if it's a pairing that's been attempted by anyone else before or not. Anyway, Kaito's now made his choice. Now the others will have to deal with the consequences.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	9. Blood Lovers

**Author's Note:** Writing this chapter went pretty quickly since I wrote the two M rated scenes contained within in advance. I do that sometimes to make sure they're done just the right way.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 8: Blood Lovers

Droite led Kaito into a large crystalline chamber with a round bed with red satin sheets as the only piece of furniture. She turned around and placed her right hand on Kaito's chest. With a flash of purple light, Kaito's clothes were completely vaporized. Droite got down on all fours and took Kaito's hardened rod into her mouth. The blonde groaned as Droite began sucking on it. Suddenly Droite bared her fangs and bit down on the erection, causing an intense wave of pain and pleasure to run through Kaito's whole body.

After a moment, Droite got back to her feet to face Kaito. Kaito looked down and saw that his rod had increased in size. It wasn't absurdly huge, but it had grown at least a few of inches longer and had become a bit thicker.

"What did you just…?" Kaito began to ask.

"That's not important." Droite told him before he could finish. "Right now you must do something if we are to secure our bond."

"And what's that?" Kaito asked.

Droite walked back and lied down on the bed, presenting herself to Kaito. "Take me."

Kaito understood her completely. He went over and climbed onto the bed, leaning in to give Droite a very passionate kiss. They broke the kiss after a moment, and Kaito pushed his enlarged rod into Droite. The dark-haired woman moaned loudly and arched her back, her hands clamping down onto the sheets. Kaito was simply amazed by the expression of ecstasy on Droite's face as he plowed into her. Droite looked straight into his eyes and suddenly Kaito began to feel something. He found that he could feel what Droite was feeling, and it was amazing.

Kaito began to plow harder and deeper into Droite, sending them both to intense new heights of pleasure. Time had lost all meaning as they continued, and after a blissful eternity they both came to a hard climax. After riding out his incredible orgasm, Kaito found that he was already for another round. He withdrew himself from Droite, pulled her off the bed and suddenly pinned her against the wall. Kaito then shoved his rod into Droite's rear end. Droite's eyes practically rolled to the back of her skull.

Slowly, Kaito began to move his hips. At the same time, his hands grabbed Droite's breasts and began to squeeze them. As Kaito gradually picked up his pace, he found that he was still connected mentally to Droite. Neither of them had felt such an intense level of pleasure before. They had become so lost in one another that nothing else mattered. Not Heartland. Not the fate of the Earth. Nothing.

Before long, Droite and Kaito could feel themselves coming to the edge. With one last deep thrust from Kaito, the two of them came hard again. Kaito withdrew himself from Droite and staggered back a bit. Droite turned around and smiled at him.

_'Kaito, can you hear me?'_ Droite's voice asked inside his head. _'Can you hear my thoughts?'_

_'Yes… yes I can.'_ Kaito mentally answered. _'Can you hear mine?'_

_'Yes.'_ Droite answered as she touched Kaito's cheek. _'It worked. You and I are now as one. We're a part of each other, connected by a bond that can never be broken.'_

_'This is all so amazing.'_ Kaito told her. _'I've never experienced anything like this before.'_

_'There is much for me to teach you.'_ Droite replied. _'But you will understand everything very soon.'_

_'Then I guess we should get started.'_ Kaito replied with a smirk. With that, the two of them became locked in a passionate embrace.

* * *

Shark gently awoke after an uncertain amount of time to find Hikari sound asleep next to him. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful Hikari's sleeping face was. The moment was disturbed though by the sudden loud noise of someone running down the stairs to the lab. The lab's electric doors slid open and Yuma barged into the room.

"Shark! Something's happened! You better AHHHH!" Yuma screamed upon noticing the state Shark and Hikari were in. The sound of Yuma's cry caused Hikari to wake up.

"DAMMIT YUMA!" Shark shouted as he and Hikari frantically tried to cover themselves with the blanket and sheets of the bed.

"Guys, what's going OH GOD!" Kotori cried as she came down behind Yuma and noticed Shark and Hikari. "What is it with this house? First Mizael and Cathy and now you two?"

"Wait, Mizael and… Cathy?" Shark spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh… look, never mind that!" Kotori told them. "We need both of you upstairs. Join us as soon as you get dressed! C'mon Yuma!"

"Hey Kotori, when are you and me gonna…" Yuma began to ask as they went back up the stair.

"Oh god! Yuma now is so not the time!" Kotori told him as the doors slid shut. As soon as the other couple was gone, Shark and Hikari breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry, guess I should've locked the door when I came in." Shark told Hikari.

"Don't worry about it. We were both too caught up in the moment to remember something like that." Hikari pointed out. "We should probably join the others to see what's so important."

With that, Shark and Hikari quickly got dressed and went upstairs. They found just about everyone else in the living room waiting for their arrival. Most of them looked at the couple with expressions that stated loud and clear that they had an idea what Shark and Hikari had been doing down in lab. With all the noise Yuma had made only a few minutes ago, it was hard for the others not to have figured things out. Vector had an especially large grin on his face.

"Say one word, Vector and you'll be drinking your food through a straw!" Shark warned just as the redhead opened his mouth. "Now what the hell's going on?"

"Kaito's missing." Kotori explained. "Orbital's gone too."

"What happened?" Hikari asked.

"We think that Kaito went back to Heartland Tower on his own." Durbe explained.

"That dumbass." Shark cursed.

"Kaito told me something earlier that I think all of you should know." Kotori revealed. "He said that he could feel Droite calling out to him."

"He must've gone to confront Droite himself." Mizael assumed. "For all we know, they could be locked in combat as we speak."

"Either that, or something worse." Shark replied.

"We have to go to the tower and help Kaito!" Yuma declared.

"The whole tower's swarming with vampires." Durbe pointed out. "Simply barging in there would be suicide."

"We may not have a choice though." Hikari told them. "I've had no luck shutting down the portal from here. Going to the tower might be the only way to stop all this."

"Well if we're gonna do this, we'll need a plan." Shark decided.

"While you guys work on that, I'll go back to the lab and try again." Hikari replied.

"Good idea." Shark agreed. "In the meantime, let's hope Kaito hasn't done anything stupid."

* * *

Droite was lying on her side on the bed with her back to Kaito as his rod plowed into her from underneath as he held her leg in place. How long they had been going on like this, neither of them could say. They had lost all sense of time. It had become impossible for either of them to tell the difference between a second and a year. As their bodies continued to mingle, Kaito and Droite had been experiencing one another's memories. They weren't just making love to each other physically. They were making love using their souls.

During that same sweet eternity of pleasure, Kaito had also learned just about everything there was to know about Droite's people. He even found that he was in contact with the vampire goddess, Morphia, just as Droite was. Eventually, Kaito and Droite both came to another hard climax. When it was over Kaito found that he was feeling a bit parched. Droite offered her arm to him, and Kaito bit down on her wrist to drain some blood. After satisfying his thirst, Kaito withdrew himself and the two of them got onto their knees to face one another on the bed.

_'There's one thing I don't understand.'_ Kaito mentally spoke. _'Why do I still feel so invigorated?'_

_'The energy of just about every living thing in the city is flowing through us.'_ Droite explained. _'The two of us are conduits that are sending that energy to the mother goddess and the rest of our people. It will not be much longer before the goddess is revived. Once she comes through the portal, the rest of this world shall become like Heartland and our people will live once more.'_

_'Then I guess we should get things ready for her arrival.'_ Kaito decided.

_'You do know what that will mean, don't you?'_ Droite asked. _'You will have to face Yuma and Shark as enemies.'_

_'I'm prepared for that.'_ Kaito assured her. _'There's no going back for me now. I am a part of you, just as you are a part of me. Your people are my people, and I'm going to fight for their sake no matter what.'_

_'I can feel your devotion.'_ Droite replied with a smile and a small tear in her eye. _'Still, I know this battle will be hard on you. So let me give you a little more strength.'_

With that, Droite gently pushed Kaito onto his back and got on top of him, moaning as his rock-hard manhood entered her. It seemed like they were going to be a little while longer.

* * *

Almost an hour had gone by, and Shark and most of the others had been discussing different plans to get into Heartland Tower. No matter how they looked at it, getting into the tower was not going to be an easy task.

As the group finished talking over another possible plan, Hikari walked into the room with a discouraged look on her face. "It's no use. I can't access the tower computer from here. The only way to shut off the portal is from lab at the tower."

"Well then, it looks like we've got our work cut out for us." Shark replied. "There's no way we can just sneak into the place without being noticed."

"Another problem is that we don't know how many vampires will be waiting for us once we're inside." Durbe added. "No matter what course of action we take, we're probably going to have to fight our way in."

"Hey. Why don't we just wait until morning when all the vampires are asleep?" Yuma suggested.

"No good. With that portal opening up, we can't afford to wait until daybreak." Hikari pointed out. "Besides, the distortion the portal's causing is creating cloud cover thick enough to block out the sun. Those vampires can probably stay up well into the day if they wanted to now."

Before anyone could make another suggestion, Alit came running into the room. "Guys! We've got a big problem!"

"What's up?" Gilag asked.

"We're surrounded by vampires!" Alit explained.

Upon hearing this, everyone followed Alit to the living room window. Just as the boxer duelist told them, the house had been surrounded by a legion of vampires. Many of them were of the white-haired beast-like variety. Suddenly a large ball of purple light came down from the sky and struck an area in front of the house. The light faded to reveal Droite in her purple dress and Kaito, much to the shock of Yuma and the others. Kaito had on an outfit similar to that of an Egyptian pharaoh, minus the crown. Adorning his bare chest was the painted-on symbol of a large purple butterfly. Yuma quickly ran outside to confront Kaito. The others followed quickly behind.

"Kaito!" Yuma called as he ran out. "What's going on? Why are you with Droite?"

"What's going on Yuma is that I've changed sides." Kaito answered. "Except for Hikari Fudo, I'm going to give you all a choice. You can either join with us, or you can die right here. Either way, you're a threat that must be eliminated."

"Dammit! I knew something like this was gonna happen!" Shark exclaimed. "You just had to go to that damn tower by yourself, didn't you?"

"I followed my heart for the first time in years." Kaito replied. "Droite is who I love most, and I will stand at her side no matter what!"

"Damn you, Tenjo!" Mizael angrily cursed, his hands balled into fists at his side. "You would sell out your own world and people to that woman?"

"Droite's people are now my people too." Kaito told him. "I no longer care about what happens to this world. Besides, every living thing on this planet will be one of us soon enough."

"I will not stand this betrayal!" Mizael declared. "If you truly intend to stand against us, then I will destroy you here and now!"

"Bring it on!" Kaito dared. "It's about time you and I had a rematch anyway."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I apologize if the steamy scenes in this chapter were a little too over the top, especially the biting thing in the very first scene. That was inspired by this one low-grade vampire movie I saw a few years back. But I felt that since Kaito and Droite had become vampires their love-making would be a little on the kinky side. Anyway, Kaito's changing sides has gotten Mizael pretty ticked off. In the next chapter, the two Galaxy-Eyes users will clash yet again.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	10. Dragon of the Undead

**Author's Note:** This chapter took a little longer to do than the rest because of the duel that's about to take place in it. Some duels are a little harder to write than others, and this one required a fair bit of thought. I also ended up making up some new cards of my own for Mizael in this story. As far as monster went, his deck seemed a little bit thin.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 9: Dragon of the Undead

"Guys, can't we just talk about this?" Yuma asked.

"Stay out of this, Yuma!" Mizael told him. "This is between me and Tenjo!"

"Forget it, Yuma. This is out of our hands." Shark told him. "Besides, Kaito's one of those things now. Like it or not, he's become an enemy."

"Let's get this started!" Kaito told Mizael

With that, Kaito and Droite activated their tattoos while the others activated their D-Gazers. As Kaito and Mizael's duel discs activated, the color of the surrounding area changed slightly. The vampire hoard that had accompanied Droite and Kaito had taken a good step back to give the two Galaxy-Eyes duelists some room.

""I shall start things off!" Mizael declared as he drew his first card. "To begin, I summon Heliosphere Dragon in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Mizael's side of the battlefield was a dragon that looked like a cross between a kite and a manta ray. It had a golden face with green eyes and a purple body. Trailing behind it were two slender whip-like tails.

"Next I activate the Spell card, Galactic Wrath!" Mizael announced. "With this card, I summon Cloud Nebula Dragon!"

Materializing on the battlefield was a rosy cloud of nebular gas filled with little twinkling stars. The cloud quickly changed shape and took the form of a serpentine dragon with deep blue star-like eyes.

"Using these two level four dragons, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon Galaxy Fortress Dragon in Defense Mode!" Mizael announced.

A large vortex resembling a swirling galaxy appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Both of Mizael's dragons changed into balls of green energy and flew into the center of the phenomenon. Rising out of the vortex only moments later was a large mechanical-looking dragon with a copper-colored body. It had a spherical torso lacking any arms or legs. On the sides of that torso were two large metal wings, and mounted where its shoulders might be were two long-barreled cannons that were colored gold. Extending downward beneath the torso was a long thick metal tail, and rising from the top was a mechanical dragon's head with green eyes supported by a mechanical serpent-like neck. Orbiting around the dragon were two balls of green light.

"He summoned a monster with 2800 DEF on his first turn." A somewhat impressed Hikari observed. "Not bad."

"Yeah, but a monster like that won't last long against Kaito." Yuma assumed.

"Be careful, darling!" Cathy called to Mizael.

"Darling?" most of the former Barians repeated with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, uh… well…" Cathy nervously began.

"Never mind that right now, guys." Shark told them. "Let's just keep an eye on this duel."

"In addition to having a DEF of 2800, my Galaxy Fortress Dragon has an effect that prevents it from being destroyed in battle by detaching an overlay unit." Mizael revealed.

"Is that supposed to impress me?" Kaito asked. "I expected better from you, Mizael. That Fortress Dragon if yours is nothing before me."

"Then prove it!" Mizael dared. "I end my turn!"

Kaito drew his first card. "Since I have no monsters on the field, I summon Photon Thrasher from my hand!"

Appearing on Kaito's side of the field was a humanoid figure clad mostly in blue with a head of red hair. On his face was a grey almost cross-shaped mask showing a single red eye. In his hand he carried a large sword with a beam of blue light in the front of the blade.

"Next I summon Photon Thrasher in Attack Mode!" Kaito announced.

Materializing next to Thrasher was another humanoid figure clad completely in bulky green and white armor. The only part of its face that was visible was a single red eye. In his hand, the warrior carried a thick black double-sided club.

"I now sacrifice my two monsters to summon a creature more powerful than a supernova!" Kaito announced.

Both of Kaito's warriors shattered apart into bits of light. Appearing in the photon duelist's hand was a large red cross with a blue gemstone on the front. Kaito flung the cross high into the air.

"Appear now, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!" Kaito called.

The cross that Kaito had thrown exploded in a flash of blue light in the sky. Descending to the battlefield after the light cleared was a large dragon with a mainly purple body. Swirling around in its glowing blue eyes was the image of a galaxy.

"I activate the Spell, Galaxy Expedition!" Kaito announced. "With this card, I summon Galaxy Knight from my deck!"

Appearing on the battlefield next to Photon Dragon in a kneeling position was a knight clad in silver armor. He had yellow eyes and two blue gemstones mounted in his chest armor.

"And now… using these two monsters I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon a monster strong enough to drain the life of entire star systems!" Kaito announced. "Appear… Galaxy-Eyes Dead Star Dragon!"

A massive vortex of purple light appeared in the center of the battlefield and filled the air with a bone-chilling cold. Kaito's two monsters were turned into balls of purple energy and sucked into the center of the vortex. Moments later a pillar of purple light shout out of the center of the vortex as it closed up. The light faded after a moment to reveal Kaito's dragon in a new form. Much of its muscular body glowed with a lavender-colored light. Its torso was covered in black armor with a silver butterfly-shaped crest with an oval blue gem on the front. Covering the upper half of its head was a piece of black armor that looked the skull of a dragon with curved horns. Black armored plates ran down the back of the dragon's neck all the way to its tail. On the dragon's back was a pair of large transparent butterfly wings made of the same light that emanated from its body. Two balls of purple light orbited around the dragon.

"A new Galaxy-Eyes monster!" Yuma observed. "And it has the same ATK as Photon Dragon!"

"And probably a much stronger effect." Shark added.

"I activate Dead Star Dragon's effect!" Kaito announced. "By detaching one overlay unit, Dead Star Dragon can remove all overlay units from an enemy Xyz Monster and gain 500 ATK for each one removed until the end of the turn!"

Dead Star Dragon opened its mouth and sucked in one of the balls of light orbiting around it. A beam of light shot from the gem on its butterfly crest and struck Fortress Dragon. The two balls of light orbiting around Mizael's dragon were pulled in by the beam and sucked into the crest. The beam faded and Kaito's dragon roared as its ATK went up.

"Now your Fortress Dragon can't protect itself." Kaito continued. "Dead Star Dragon, obliterate Fortress Dragon! Dead Star Stream of Extinction!"

Dead Star Dragon reared back its head and fired an intense beam of purple light from its jaws. Fortress Dragon was struck by the blast and smoke.

"Now that there's an Xyz Monster in the Graveyard, Dead Star Dragon's ATK rises to 4500." Kaito continued. "And since the monster he just destroyed was an Xyz Monster, he gains a second attack this turn!"

"What? But the way that dragon is right now, it can take out Mizael in one shot!" a shocked Hikari exclaimed. "And it doesn't look like he has a way to defend himself!"

"Dead Star Dragon, attack Mizael directly!" Kaito commanded. "Dead Star Stream of Extinction!"

The dragon of light reared back its head again and fired another blast from its jaws. Cathy looked away to avoid seeing Mizael getting hit. Just as the blast was about to strike however, Fortress Dragon reappeared and closed its large metal wings around the dragon tamer. The attack struck the wings, causing Fortress Dragon to explode. The smoke cleared, and both Mizael and his life points were untouched.

"What the… what just happened?" Kaito demanded to know.

"By banishing Galaxy Fortress Dragon from my Graveyard, I can block one direct attack from my opponent." Mizael explained. "Not only that, but now that there's no longer an Xyz Monster in the Graveyard, you dragon loses the 500 extra ATK it gained from its first attack."

Cathy breathed a sigh of relief. "This duel's hard on my nerves."

"I'll say." Gilag agreed. "I really thought Mizael was a goner just now."

"Mizael knew that Kaito was going to start out with a strong attack, so he prepared the perfect defense to block it." Alit observed. "I guess I'd be a little cautious if I was him too."

"I'm a little disappointed in you, Mizael." Kaito told him. "You did well blocking my attack, but I would've thought you'd use a flashier opening move."

Mizael smirked. "I was merely trying to lure out your dragon to see what kind of power you gained from joining with that woman and her undead legion. And I have to say Tenjo, I'm the one who's disappointed in you! To think that you'd oppose me with a false Galaxy-Eyes monster!"

"What did you say?" an offended Kaito responded.

"You've degraded yourself and your noble dragon by succumbing to that woman's power!" Mizael declared. "Now you've both become shadows of your former selves!"

"You know nothing, dragon tamer!" Droite cut in. "Kaito's stronger now that he's joined with me."

"It's okay, Droite." Kaito calmly told her. "Mizael can say what he wants. In the end, he'll see that he can't stand up against the power you've given me."

"We'll see about that!" Mizael declared as he drew his next card. "Since you control a monster with over 2000 ATK, I special summon two Schwarzschild Dragons from my hand!"

Appearing on Mizael's side of the battlefield were two identical serpentine dragons. Each of them had brown scales and three red eyes.

"Using these two monsters, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon a creature whose very presence warps the fabric of time!" Mizael announced. "Arise, Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon!"

Another large vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared in the center of the battlefield. Mizael's two dragons transformed into two balls of yellow energy and went into the center of the vortex. Rising out of the center moments later with two balls of yellow light orbiting around it was a large object that looked like a dark metal top. The top quickly began to unfold and change shape, transforming into a black mechanical dragon with purple lines glowing on parts of its body. Glowing on its head crest was the number 107 in alien writing.

"So now what?" Kaito asked. "Both our monsters have the same attack, and neither one can be destroyed in battle."

"I equip Tachyon Dragon with the Spell, Tachyon Stampeder!" Mizael announced.

Appearing on Tachyon Dragon's shoulders were two long-barreled cannons made of a rose-colored metal. The two cannons were connected to a large pack on the back by two black cables.

"Any Xyz Monster that Tachyon attacks now will lose 500 ATK for each of its overlay units during the battle." Mizael explained. "But more importantly, any monster that survives the battle will be destroyed at the end of the turn!"

"That means Mizael can destroy Dead Star Dragon and even deal some damage!" Alit observed.

"Go for it, darling!" Cathy cheered.

"Tachyon Dragon, remove that false Galaxy-Eyes monster from my sight!" Mizael commanded. "Tachyon Buster Stream!"

At this Kaito chuckled. "I figured you'd might try something like this. I activate another of Dead Star Dragon's effects! When Dead Star Dragon's attacked by a Number, he can negate the attack and destroy the monster!"

Tachyon Dragon roared and fired two beams of green crackling energy from its shoulder-mounted cannons. Before the attack could hit though, Dead Star Dragon fired a blast of blue light from its mouth, tearing through Tachyon Dragon's attack. The mechanical dragon was stuck in the chest and enveloped in a massive explosion. When the smoke cleared however, Tachyon Dragon was still on the battlefield. The only thing that was different was that it had lost its two cannons.

"What? How is Tachyon still on the field?" a startled Kaito asked.

"A valiant effort, Tenjo. But by sending Tachyon Stampeder to the Graveyard, I was able to prevent Tachyon's destruction." Mizael explained with a smirk. "And now I end my Battle Phase and activate Tachyon Dragon's effect! By detaching an overlay unit, Tachyon negates the effect of all other monsters on the field and gains a second attack! Not only that, Tachyon gains 1000 ATK for each effect that resolved during the last battle until the end of the turn!"

One of the balls of light orbiting Tachyon entered the dragon's body. The mechanical dragon roared and the light from Dead Star Dragon suddenly faded.

"Tachyon, obliterate that wretched false dragon!" Mizael ordered. "Tachyon Spiral of Destruction!"

The mechanical dragon roared before shooting a blast of energy from its mouth at Dead Star Dragon. The opposing dragon was vaporized by the attack and Kaito's life points fell to 2000.

"Looks like Mizael's got Kaito on the ropes now." Gilag confidently observed as Cathy cheered.

"Don't be so sure." Vector told him. "Miza-chan may have taken out Kaito's new dragon, but I doubt he's even close to being finished."

"I hate to say it, but Vector's probably right." Alit agreed. "Up until now, Mizael and Kaito have just been feeling one another out. I think now's when the real duel begins."

"I end my turn." Mizael announced.

Kaito calmly drew his next card. "Now you shall see my Dead Star Dragon's ultimate form! I activate Rank-Up-Magic Morphia Force!"

"Oh no! That's the same Spell that Droite used to beat Gauche!" Kotori recalled.

"With this card, I revive Dead Star Dragon from the Graveyard and elevate him into a supreme being!" Kaito announced.

A cold mist covered the ground and unconscious Dead Star Dragon appeared on the field inside a giant crystal. The dragon's eyes began to glow inside the crystal and a stream of purple energy began to flow from Tachyon Dragon into the crystal, taking the dragon's remaining ball of light with it. The light faded from Tachyon Dragon and its metal body became covered in rust.

"Awaken and drain the life from this world, Neo Galaxy-Eyes Dead Star Dragon!" Kaito called.

The crystal exploded in a blinding flash of light, scattering shards to the winds. The light faded to reveal a transformed Dead Star Dragon. Its body glowed red and the silver butterfly crest on its chest had turned gold with a purple gemstone. The dragon now also had three heads, each one with a long neck. On the forehead of the center head was a second butterfly crest. Its arms had also grown longer and its body had become gangly. Two crystal orbs orbited around the dragon, leaving trails of purple light.

"Awe man! That dragon looks nasty!" Alit declared. "How's Mizael supposed to beat a thing like that?"

"Neo Dead Star has 4500 ATK." Kaito continued. "And thanks to Morphia Force, Tachyon now has zero ATK. It's all over."

"I can't look!" Cathy exclaimed as she covered her face with her hands.

"Neo Dead Star! Obliterate Tachyon Dragon!" Kaito commanded. "Ultimate Extinction Stream!"

"I activate the effect of Cloud Nebula Dragon!" Mizael quickly announced. "By banishing it from my Graveyard when a dragon I control is attacked, any damage I take from that battle becomes zero!"

Neo Dead Star's three mouths opened and fired a beam of red light from each one. The three beams met in the center, forming a single intense stream of energy. The blast struck Tachyon Dragon, vaporizing it in an instant. As the blast continued towards Mizael, a cloud of nebular gas formed around him and absorbed the energy. When the cloud broke apart, Mizael was stunned to see that his dragon was no more.

"How is this possible?" Mizael demanded to know. "How were you able to destroy Tachyon?"

"The effects of any Xyz Monster that Neo Dead Star battles are negated." Kaito explained. "And since Neo Dead Star just destroyed an Xyz Monster in battle, I detach one overlay unit and inflict damage equal to that monster's Rank times 400!"

One of the crystal orbs orbiting Neo Dead Star shattered and the energy contained within entered the crest on the dragon's center head. The dragon of light fired a beam of purple energy from its chest crest at Mizael. The blonde dragon tamer was knocked onto his back by the beam and his life points dropped to 800.

"Give up. It's over." Kaito told him. "There's no way you can win against my dragon's ultimate form."

"I will never yield to you or your false Galaxy-Eyes monster!" Mizael declared as he got back to his feet. "I've not yet begun to fight!" As Mizael drew his next card, it flashed with a red light. "I activate Rank-Up-Magic The Seventh One! With this card, I revive Tachyon Dragon and use it to Xyz Summon a creature with the power to rip the fabric of space and time asunder!"

A massive vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared in the middle of the field. Rising out of it was a gold and red object that looked like a narrow top.

"Arise, Number C107: Neo Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon!" Mizael called.

The gold object unfolded and transformed into a massive gold robotic dragon with immense wings and three heads. Mizael and Kaito's dragons roared at one another and the sky began to flash with lightning. Suddenly Hikari's Signer Mark began to glow with a brilliant crimson light.

Shark quickly noticed the light of Hikari's mark. "What's going on?"

Before Hikari could answer, the sound of an echoing roar pierced the air. Bursting out of the thick clouds above was a large serpentine dragon with a body of red light and golden eyes. The dragon descended to the battlefield towards the other two dragons.

"Who's dragon is that?" a confused Yuma asked.

"That's the Crimson Dragon!" Hikari answered.

The Crimson Dragon roared at Mizael and Kaito's dragons and the light from its body began to glow even brighter. The light seemed to cause Neo Dead Star to roar in pain. Kaito and Droite cried out in pain as well and smoke suddenly began to rise from their bodies. The same was happening to the couple's vampire hoard. Neo Tachyon and Neo Dead Star roared at the Crimson Dragon, and suddenly an explosion of blinding red light washed out the entire area.

* * *

_Hikari suddenly found that she was floating in an unknown sky above a completely blue landscape. Several feet away she saw two figures hovering over the land in the distance. One was a being that seemed to be made completely of blue light. The other was a woman with long white hair. Hikari didn't know why, but the woman looked somehow familiar. Floating just behind the woman was a large black object that looked like a ship of some kind._

_The woman with white hair blasted the being of light with a blast of purple energy shot from her hands. It looked like the blue figure was on his last legs. Suddenly the roar of the Crimson Dragon echoed through the air. Hikari watched as the dragon deity burst through the clouds to confront the woman. The dragon blasted the woman with a stream of red energy from its mouth, causing her to scream in pain. As the woman was bombarded, there was another blinding explosion of light that washed out the entire area._

* * *

Hikari found that she was back with the others in front of the house when the light cleared. The Crimson Dragon had vanished, as had Mizael and Kaito's two dragons. It seemed that the duel had come to an end. Kaito and Droite were just getting back to their feet.

"Looks like our battle's done for now." Kaito told Mizael. "We'll be leaving."

"Wait just a damn minute, Kaito!" Shark protested. "You think after all this, we're just gonna let you guys walk away?"

"You don't have a choice." Droite told them. "There's no way you can stop us from leaving if we want to."

"Before we go though Droite, I think we should take a snake to go." Kaito decided.

With that, Kaito extended his right arm and blasted Kotori with a beam of purple light, much to Yuma's shock. Kotori vanished and reappeared moments later in Kaito's arms, unconscious.

"Kotori!" a horrified Yuma called.

"If you want to stop us or even try and save Kotori, you'll have to come to Heartland Tower." Kaito told them. "If you can, that is."

Droite, Kaito and Kotori became enveloped in a ball of blue light that shot into the air and took off towards the tower. Yuma called after Kaito to come back, but it was useless. Meanwhile, the vampires that Kaito and Droite had left behind were beginning to advance on the house.

"What do we do now?" Cathy wondered.

"Dammit! Kaito, you dumbass!" Shark cursed. "I swear I'll make you pay for this!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry if the way Kaito and Mizael's duel ended was kind of a letdown. I just liked the idea of the two of them having another battle where things got so intense that they had to call things off. Plus it seemed like a good way to get the Crimson Dragon involved a little more. One thing that made the duel in this chapter had to do was that I had forgotten how Tachyon Dragon's effect worked in the anime. So if I got anything wrong in this chapter, let me know. Hopefully it'll be an easy fix if I did.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	11. Underworld

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 10: Underworld

Hikari and the others ran inside the house as the vampire hoard began to chase after them. As Hikari quickly locked and bolted the door, the others quickly began to gather objects to use as a barricade. As soon as Gilag and Alit set down the couch in front of the entrance, a hand of one of the vampires burst through the wooden door and began to blindly grab for anything it could touch. Hikari grabbed the creature's wrist, causing its flesh to burn. The hand pulled back, but two more punched through to take its place. The group ceased trying to build a barricade and backed away from the door.

"It's no use! There's no way we can keep these things out of the house!" Alit told the others.

"What do we do now?" Cathy asked.

"We go down to the lab!" Hikari answered. "It doubles as a panic room!"

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?" Gilag asked. "Let's move it!"

As the group ran through the living room towards the lab, a large object suddenly burst through the window and crashed to the floor, causing them to pause. The object in question was Orbital in his flight mode. The robot's camera-like eye flickered for a moment before going dark.

"Isn't that Kaito's robot?" Hikari asked.

"We have to help him!" Yuma told the others.

Gilag quickly grabbed Orbital and carried him in his arms as they continued down to the lab. As soon as everyone was safely inside, Hikari pressed a few keys on a control panel by the door. A large metal hatch slammed down and securely shut the group inside. They hoped that it would be enough to keep out the vampire legion. With the vampires no longer a threat for the moment, everyone took a moment to relax and process the current situation.

"Well… now what?" Shark asked.

"We have to get to the tower and save Kotori!" Yuma answered.

"I hate to say this, but I'm sure that Kotori has already been turned into a vampire by now." Durbe pointed out.

"Well there has to be a way to turn her back!" Yuma responded. "And not just her, but Kaito and Droite too!"

"I'm with Yuma!" Alit agreed. "We need to get to the tower, save Kotori, stop Kaito and Droite, and save the city."

"I think we can all agree that we need to get to the tower." Shark replied. "The problem is we don't know how the hell we're gonna do that. Right now, we're pretty much stuck in this room."

"If only I had finished of Tenjo in that duel. Then perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation." Mizael assumed.

"You probably might've been able to finish things if that Crimson Dragon hadn't shown up." Vector pointed out.

"Hey Hikari, why did the Crimson Dragon show up during Kaito and Mizael's duel?" Shark asked.

"I don't know. I've never fully understood the Crimson Dragon." Hikari answered. "I could just be because I was there. But… I get the feeling that it showed up because it didn't want Neo Tachyon and Neo Dead Star to clash. Like if they did, their fight would've destroyed the city."

"More like what's left of the city." Vector remarked. "Let's face it. Heartland's pretty much gone to hell. Those vampires are probably everywhere now."

"To hold back my Tachyon and Tenjo's false Galaxy-Eyes. Perhaps this Crimson Dragon is somehow related to the Numeron Dragon." Mizael theorized.

"There's something else that I think all of you should know." Hikari continued. "When the Crimson Dragon caused that explosion I had some kind of vision. I was floating above this completely blue world. In the sky with me a few feet away was this large black ship. It looked sort of like a whale with batwings. Anyway, there were these two people fighting in front of the ship. One was a woman with white hair. I think she was a vampire. The other was this guy made of blue light."

"Blue light? That sounds like Astral!" Yuma interjected.

"The place Hikari just described does sound like Astral World." Durbe spoke. "And Droite did say that her people had been sealed away by Astral in the past."

"You said Astral and this vampire woman were fighting?" Shark asked Hikari.

"Yeah, and your friend Astral seemed to be losing." Hikari answered. "But then the Crimson Dragon showed up and beat her back."

"Wait, you're saying that Astral and the Crimson Dragon worked together once?" Shark asked.

"Looks that way." Hikari replied. "That is if the blue guy I saw really was your friend, Astral."

"Even if Astral and the Crimson Dragon did work together to fight the vampires, that still doesn't help us get into the tower." Alit pointed out.

"So what do we do?" Gilag wondered.

"Well for starters, we should try and get Orbital 7 up and running again." Hikari replied. "If nothing else, he might be able to help us answer some questions."

"You think you can fix him?" Shark asked.

"I can give it a shot." Hikari answered. "Plus it'll give me a chance to see how he works. I've been a little curious about that ever since I started working with Kaito."

"Then I guess we'll let you get to it." Shark decided.

As Hikari set to work trying to repair Orbital, everyone else waited and tried their best to relax. For several minutes, Vector and Cathy did everything they could to try and cheer up Yuma, while Alit and Gilag were having some kind of marathon arm wrestling match. Durbe meanwhile was playing chess on Hikari's computer. After a bit, Shark got a little tired of watching Hikari work on Orbital and noticed Mizael standing alone in a corner of the lab. The water duelist decided that it was as good a time as any to talk to the dragon tamer about a couple of things.

"Hey Mizael." Shark spoke after walking over, getting the blonde's attention. "How're you doing?"

"I'm still a little angry that I didn't get Tenjo's hide, but otherwise fine." Mizael answered.

"Good." Shark replied. "So… you and Cathy. How long's that been going on?"

Mizael sighed. "If you must know, Cathy and I have been seeing each other for a little over six months."

"And you haven't told any of us about this because…" Shark inquired.

"We decided to keep our relationship a secret for now because of Merag." Mizael answered. "She doesn't like Cathy because of her irrational fear of cats. I can't possibly understand how anyone could be afraid of such noble creatures."

"Okay, I get the picture." Shark replied as he rolled his eyes. "I'll have a little talk with Rio when she gets back from her trip."

"Since you've asked about my love life, I think it's only fair of me to ask how things are going between you and Hikari." Mizael responded.

"…You could say we're in a pretty good place." Shark answered after a moment, his face turning a bit red.

"I should think so, considering what the two of you were probably doing in this lab earlier." Mizael replied with a small smirk. "She's a fine young woman, Nasch. The two of you seem to make a good couple."

"Thanks." Shark replied.

Meanwhile as Hikari patched another circuit in Orbital, the robot sprang back to life and changed back to his normal robot mode. The others quickly gathered around as soon as they heard Orbital's voice.

"W-w-where am I?" Orbital asked as he looked around.

"You're in the lab at my house." Hikari explained.

"Orbital, what happened to Kaito?" Yuma asked. "Why did you and he just take off like that?"

"M-Master Kaito left for the tower to slay Droite." Orbital explained. "He c-couldn't stand just w-w-waiting around the house where her calling out to him. I don't know if he succeeded or not though. When I tried to follow him into the tower I was b-blocked by some kind of energy field."

"Well Kaito didn't go through with slaying Droite." Shark informed the robot. "Instead he gave in and joined her."

"W-W-W-WHAT?" Orbital exclaimed in a very animated manner. "T-this is t-t-terrible! What are we supposed to do now?"

"Orbital, we need to get into Heartland Tower." Hikari told him. "The problem is that we'd have to go through a whole army of vampires to get in through the front. Do you know of any other way in?"

"W-we could try to get in through the underground access hatch." Orbital answered. "It connects directly to the sewer system."

"But how are we supposed to get into the sewers?" Alit asked. "We can't even get out of this house right now."

"Wait a minute… maybe we can." Hikari replied.

Hikari walked over to the far wall of the lab and felt around it until she found a small hidden panel. She pressed the panel in, and part of the wall opened up to reveal a small room with a large round hatch built into the floor.

"That's been here the whole time?" Cathy asked.

"Yeah. I forgot about it because my family and I have never had to use the lab's panic room mode before." Hikari answered. "That feature was put in mostly as a precaution. But this hatch should lead us directly into the sewers. Orbital, can you lead us to the access hatch to the tower once we're down there?"

"Y-yes ma'am!" Orbital replied with his trademark salute.

"Then let's go!" Hikari decided.

With that, Gilag opened the hatch and dropped Orbital in first. The little robot cried out as he fell through the opening but landed on his wheels. Once Orbital was through, the rest of the group climbed in, shutting the hatch behind them. They had indeed arrived in the sewer system beneath Heartland City. The group followed behind Orbital down the path that would take them up into the tower. They walked in silence for several minutes, encountering nothing. Not even the occasional rat.

After awhile they came to a point where the sewer walls were covered in the same sort of crystal they had seen covering Heartland Tower. The crystal seemed to give a dull eerie light to the darkness of the sewers. It wasn't long before the group came before a sight that caused them all to pause. Lining the crystal were several transparent coffins that contained slumbering vampires.

"Holy crap!" Alit exclaimed as quietly as possible. "We just walked straight into a nest full of vampires!"

"This must be where they've been hiding out during the day." Vector whispered.

"Maybe we should go back." Cathy suggested, holding tightly onto Mizael's arm. "They could wake up at any time."

"We've come too far to turn back now." Hikari told them. "Orbital, how much further to the access hatch?"

"N-n-not very far." Orbital quietly answered. "It's just down that last corner up ahead."

"Then let's keep going." Shark decided. "We'll walk quietly and hope the things in those coffins don't wake up."

The group continued silently through the crystalline crypt past several of the sleeping vampires. Many of the creatures sleeping inside the coffins were the white-haired inhuman ghouls that they had become all too familiar with earlier that night, but there were at least a few that actually still looked human. Yuma and some of the others occasionally did a double take when they saw a vampire that had once been someone that they knew from school. After what almost seemed like an eternity, Orbital led the group to a ladder built into the wall that led up to a circular hatch in the ceiling.

"Guess this is it." Shark observed. "We all ready to do this?"

"You bet!" Yuma confirmed.

"I think we're all as ready as we'll ever be." Durbe replied.

"Then let's go!" Hikari told them. "We have a city and an entire world to save."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry if this chapter was a bit lame. I needed to do a part that showed our heroes getting to the tower, and this was the best I could come up with. Writing this chapter, I felt that it was probably a little too convenient for there to be a hatch into the sewers that Hikari and the others could use to get out of the lab, but I had kind of written myself into a corner. So I apologize for not being able to come up with something a little more creative. I did use a little of this chapter to reveal more about Mizael and Cathy's relationship. I'm toying with the idea of doing a story showing how those two got together in the first place.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	12. Tower Siege

**Author's Note:** I wasn't really sure if I'd get this chapter up today. For one thing, I had someplace I had to be this afternoon for about an hour. Plus the duel that's about to take place in this chapter made it a pretty long one. But I managed to get a fairly early start on writing it this morning, so here we are. I hope this makes up for the last chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 11: Tower Siege

Hikari and the others passed through the hatch and ended up in a small room inside the tower. Gilag ended up having to throw Orbital up through the opening due to the robot's inability to climb. Once everyone was through, Hikari opened the door and they found themselves inside a long hallway on the first floor. The walls were covered with the same glowing crystal that was in the sewers. There were no vampires in sight inside that hall, but they all knew there was a good chance that could change at any time.

"Well, we're in. Now what?" Shark asked.

"Now we go to the lab so I can shut down the portal." Hikari answered.

"What about Kotori?" Yuma asked. "She's probably being held here somewhere?"

"Or more likely, she's probably a vampire." Durbe pointed out.

"Then again, she might not be. It could be that Kaito simply locked her in a room somewhere to use her as bait." Alit pointed out.

"Okay, fine. Hikari and I will go to the lab alone to shut down that portal." Shark decided. "The rest of you can search the tower for Kotori, but be careful. Durbe, I'm counting on you to keep a leash on Yuma should you guys find the worst."

"You don't have to worry about a thing." Durbe assured him.

"Let's get moving!" Hikari told them. "We probably don't have a lot of time left."

With that, the group split up and Shark and Hikari headed for the lab. They walked as quickly as they could down the silent hallways, being careful not to alert any vampires that might be lurking around. In only a few moments they made it to the lab. But as soon as they walked in, they found Kaito and Droite standing in the middle of the room.

"We had a feeling you might show up." Kaito told them.

"So we decided to throw you a little welcome." Droite added.

"Damn! I knew this wouldn't be easy." Shark declared.

"This ends now!" Hikari told the vampire couple. "We're shutting you down."

"You're right about one thing. This is going to end now." Kaito replied. "But it'll be with your deaths!"

"The only way for you to end this now is to defeat us!" Droite informed them.

"Guess we don't have a choice." Hikari observed.

"Fine then! We'll take you both on!" Shark agreed.

"This'll be a tag match, with both our teams sharing a total of 8000 life points." Kaito informed them. "Now let's do this!"

With that, Hikari and Shark put on their D-Gazers while the D-Gazer tattoos of Droite and Kaito activated. As soon as the four of them activate their duel disks, the color of the surrounding space changed slightly.

"I'll go first." Kaito announced as he drew his first card. "I'll set one card on the field. Then I summon Photon Crusher in Attack Mode!" Kaito's one-eyed armored warrior materialized on the battlefield, swinging his club as he appeared. "That ends my turn."

"I'm up next!" Shark announced as he drew his first card. "First I'll set my own face-down card on the field! Then I summon Skull Kraken in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on the field was a grey octopus-like creature with long narrow tentacles. It had a skull-shaped head with a pair of sunken red eyes.

"I end my turn!" Shark announced.

"Now it's my move." Droite calmly announced as she drew her next card. "First I summon Morpho Butterspy in Attack Mode!"

Materializing next to Photon Crusher was a female creature with a humanoid upper body and a tail-like lower half. She had a large pair of blue and black butterfly wings and wore a blue and black bodysuit. A brown helmet with orange lenses covered the upper half of her face, and in each hand she carried a green blade.

"I overlay my Morpho Butterspy and Kaito's Photn Crusher to Xyz Summon Dead Star Butterfly Priestess!" Droite announced.

A vortex of purple light appeared in the center of the battlefield. Kaito and Droite's two monsters turned into balls of purple energy and were sucked in. Rising out of the center moments later was Droite's white-haired priestess.

"I'll set one card on the field and end my turn." Droite announced.

Hikari drew her first card. "First I summon Fortress Warrior in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a large stone warrior with four legs and a humanoid upper body. With his arms it carried a round windowed structure with a helicopter landing-pad on the top.

"Next I activate the Spell card, Emergency Teleport!" Hikari announced. "With this card, I summon the Tuner monster, Psychic Commander!"

Materializing on the field in a flash of yellow light was a humanoid figure clad in a green army uniform with white gloves riding in a silver futuristic hovercraft with a long cannon barrel on the front. He had a grinning mouth filled with sharp fangs, and on his head was a helmet with a black visor showing four red eyes.

"I tune my level three Psychic Commander into my level two Fortress warrior and Ryoga's level three Skull Kraken for a level eight Synchro Summon!" Hikari announced.

Psychic Commander flashed orange and turned into three rings made of green light. The rings surrounded Skull Kraken and Fortress Warrior, changing them into eight white stars.

"Clustering nightmares will call forth the heart's inner demon! Create the path its darkness spreads upon!" Hikari chanted. "Synchro Summon! Arise from the pit, Thought Ruler Archfiend!"

The stars flashed and began a massive pillar of white light. The light faded to reveal a large humanoid demon with a muscular green body. He had a pair of large bat-like wings on his back and a long thick tail with yellow stripes. Parts of his body were covered by white bone, and his head was a skull with thick straight horns. The demon had large hands with long thick yellow claws.

"I know for a fact that your Dead Star monsters can only be destroyed in battle by a Synchro Monster." Hikari told Droite and Kaito. "Which means my deck is pure poison to you two! Thought Ruler Archfiend, attack Butterfly Priestess! Dark Mind Shocker!"

The demon growled and bolts of yellow lighting shot up from his claws to a point right above his head. A massive bolt of lightning shot from that point towards Butterfly Priestess.

"Not so fast! I activate a Trap, Dead Star Nova!" Kaito quickly announced. "When a Dead Star monster is attacked, this card destroys the attacking monster and inflicts damage equal to that monster's ATK!"

"As if I'd let that happen!" Shark cut in. "I activate my own Trap, Seven Tools of the Bandit! I pay 1000 of our life points to negate your trap and destroy it!"

Shark and Hikari's life points took a slight drop to 7000 and the large representation of Kaito's Trap shattered to bits. The attack of Hikari's psychic demon continued on and struck Butterfly Priestess, causing her to shatter to bits after being shocked. Kaito and Droite's life points dropped to 7700. At the same time, Hikari and Shark both glowed momentarily with a yellow-green aura.

"Thanks to Thought Ruler Archfiend's effect, Ryoga and I gain life points equal to Butterfly Priestess' ATK!" Hikari announced. "More than making up for the life points we had to pay for Seven Tools of the Bandit!"

"Maybe so, but your Archfiend still loses 1000 ATK due to the effect of Butterfly Priestess." Droite informed them.

On cue, the psychic demon began to glow with a feint purple aura. He fell to one knee as his ATK dropped to 1700.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Hikari announced. "It's your move!"

* * *

Yuma and the others reached the second floor as they continued their desperate search for Kotori. They had checked every room they could find and get into and had found nothing but slumbering vampires. The longer the search went on, the more hopeless things seemed.

"Am I the only who thinks this whole thing is insane?" Cathy quietly asked the others.

"You're the only one who won't shut up about it!" Alit told her.

"Watch your tongue, Alit!" Mizael warned.

"Yeah Alit. You don't want to hurt little Cathy's feelings." Vector teased. "Otherwise Miza-Chan will get mad."

"The same goes for you, Vector!" Mizael warned.

"Will you guys cram it already?" Yuma cut in.

"Indeed. The noise you're all making might give away our position." Durbe agreed.

At last the group came to another door. Orbital opened it up and they went inside. What they found on the other side of the door was a large room filled with the white-haired ghoul vampires they had all come to know, and all of them were awake. Yuma and the others quickly ran out of the room as the vampires began to chase after them. Once they were all out of the room, Orbital slammed the door in the vampires' faces.

"This is pointless!" Mizael declared. "The only thing that's going to come from this search is all of us either getting killed or turned into those pitiful creatures!"

"But we have to find Kotori!" Yuma insisted.

"Yuma." A familiar voice spoke, causing Yuma and the others to turn.

Emerging from around the corner ahead was Kotori. She was barefoot and had on a simple low-cut white dress with a short skit and two thin straps. Her skin had become very pale yet very radiant. Right away Yuma noticed that the size of Kotori's bust had increased. Even two years after the battle with Don Thousand and the Barians, Kotori had been a bit flat chested, not that Yuma minded of course. But it seemed now that Kotori had finally developed.

"I heard you've been looking for me." Kotori spoke with a seductive look as she sauntered over.

"She's a vampire now, isn't she." Cathy quickly deduced.

"Oh yeah." Vector confirmed.

"I know you want me, Yuma." Kotori continued. "So why not just join with me?"

"Kotori, I…" a blushing Yuma spoke.

"I'll join with you Kotori!" Alit eagerly offered.

At this, Gilag struck Yuma and Alit on the back of the head, knocking them out cold. The muscular ex-Barian quickly picked up Alit while Mizael and Vector grabbed Yuma.

"Sorry, but I don't think any of us will be joining you." Durbe told the green-haired vampire.

Kotori hissed as the group and bared her fangs. As soon as she lunged at them, Orbital moved in the way and expanded to his aggressive-looking battle mode. The robot knocked Kotori away with one of his arms. Kotori quickly recovered and hissed at Orbital.

"I'll h-h-hold her off!" Orbtial told the others. "You guys just g-get out of here!"

The others nodded and quickly ran off, still carrying Yuma and Alit. With nowhere else to go, the group quickly headed for the lab to rejoin Shark and Hikari.

"I can't believe those two!" Cathy exclaimed. "Kotori gets a bigger chest from becoming a vampire and they become putty in her hands!"

"Some guys just can't control their baser instincts, I guess." Durbe replied.

"Mizael, you don't think I need a boob job, do you?" Cathy asked.

"Of course not, kitten. You're beautiful just the way you are." Mizael assured her.

Vector burst out laughing. "Kitten? Really?"

"Be silent Vector, or I'll strangle you with your own tongue!" Mizael warned.

"Hey Durbe, I think I'm starting to see why Mizael kept his thing with Cathy a secret." Gilag observed.

"Indeed." Durbe replied.

* * *

Kaito drew his next card. "I summon Galaxy-Eyes Cloud Dragon in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Kaito's side of the field was a small blue swirling nebular cloud. Emerging from the cloud like a chick hatching from an egg was a small blue glowing dragon that looked like an infant version of Photon Dragon.

"And now, by sacrificing Cloud Dragon, I can bring forth a creature more powerful than a super nova!" Kaito announced. "Appear, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"

Cloud Dragon roared and his body exploded with a blinding flash of blue light. The light faded after a moment to reveal Photon Dragon standing on the battlefield.

"I activate my Trap, Shadow Mirror Butterfly!" Droite announced. "By targeting one monster on my side of the field, I can summon this card as a monster with the same level! And the monster I choose is Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"

Flying out of Droite's Trap card was a large butterfly with shining purple wings. As soon as the insect landed on the field, four black dots appeared on the upper part of each of its wings.

"I overlay Photon Dragon and the level eight Shadow Mirror Butterfly to Xyz Summon the ultimate harbinger of extinction!" Kaito announced. "Arise, Galaxy-Eyes Dead Star Dragon!"

A purple vortex appeared in the center of the field and both monsters were pulled in as purple balls of energy. Bursting out of the vortex a moment later with a roar was Kaito's undead dragon of light.

"Because Droite's Butterfly Priestess is in the Graveyard, Dead Star Dragon's ATK rises to 3500." Kaito continued. "Dead Star, obliterate Thought Ruler Archfiend! Dead Star Stream of Extinction!"

Dead Star Dragon reared back its head and blasted the psychic demon with a stream of light from its jaws. Thought Ruler Archfiend was vaporized in an instant and Shark and Hikari's life points dropped to 7600.

"I'll end my turn there." Kaito announced.

"Get ready to kiss that dragon of yours goodbye!" Shark spoke as he drew his next card. "First I summon Big Jaws in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a large blue and white shark with a mouth filled with oversized fangs. On top of its head was a single fin-shaped blade.

"Because I summoned a Water monster to the field, I can also summon Shark Stickers!" Shark continued. A large slender blue fish with suction cups on the top of its head appeared next to Big Jaws. "I overlay the level three Big Jaws and the level three Shark Stickers to Xyz Summon Black Ray Lancer!"

The two fish monsters turned into balls of blue energy and were sucked into a vortex that appeared on the field. Rising out moments later was a creature covered in black scale-like armor. It had a humanoid upper body with a head covered completely by a purple helmet. On his back was a pair of large blue fins like those of a fish. The creature had a slender midsection, and on its waist was another large pair of blue fins where legs would normally be. In its right hand, the creature carried a long red spear.

"What do you expect to do with that monster?" Kaito asked. "Its effect may be able to negate Dead Star Dragon's, but its 2100 ATK is no match for it."

"I'm not done yet! Next I activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Barian's Force!" Shark announced. "Using Black Ray Lancer, I rebuild the overlay network and summon a Chaos Xyz Monster!"

Appearing in the air above the battlefield was a strange black vortex surrounded by a green mist-like energy. Black Ray Lancer was pulled into the phenomenon and vanished.

"Say hello to CXyz Shadow Ray Lancer!" Shark announced.

Black Ray Lancer emerged from the black anomaly moments later in a different form. His purple helmet had turned red and had gained three gold fin-like blades on the top. The once blue fins on his back and wait had turned red, and on his chest was a large golden version of the Barian emblem. Two lines of sparkling red energy trailed down the monster's midsection, and in his right hand he carried a large golden spear with a line of red energy along the shaft. Three red cross-shaped crystals with golden panels appeared on the ground around Shadow Ray Lancer.

"You know what happens next, Kaito!" Shark continued. "Barian's Force takes your dragon's overlay units and removes its invulnerability to non-Synchro Monsters! And for each overlay unit it loses, Dead Star Dragon's ATK drops by 300 points!"

A stream of red energy flowed from the glowing dragon to Shadow Ray Lancer, pulling the two balls of purple light that orbited the dragon along with it. The balls of light changed into two more red crystals that settled on the ground around the lancer.

"Not bad." Kaito admitted. "But your new monster still only has 2600 ATK. Even though Dead Star Dragon's been weakened by Barian's Force, Shadow Ray Lancer's still no match for it."

"I attack Dead Star Dragon with Shadow Ray Lancer and activate Shadow Ray Lancer's effect!" Shark announced. "By detaching one chaos overlay unit, Shadow Ray Lancer gains the ATK of that monster during the battle!"

Shadow Ray Lancer raised his spear and took aim at Dead Star Dragon. One of the red crystals on the ground shattered and turned into particles of light that entered the shaft of the spear.

"Ultimate Harpoon!" Shark called out.

Shadow Ray Lancer threw his golden spear at Dead Star Dragon. As the spear flew through the air it glowed with a red light and grew in size. The spear came down and struck Dead Star Dragon in the chest, causing it to explode in a blinding flash of purple light. Kaito and Droite's life points dropped to 5100. A moment later, Shadow Ray Lancer's spear reappeared in his hand.

"There's no way I'm going to let the two of you win this battle!" Shark declared. "I'll fight you both to the end to keep this world from falling into your hands!"

"Interesting talk from someone who once tried to destroy this world himself for the sake of his people." Kaito remarked. "What I'm doing now is no different from what you did as Nasch."

"Like that makes what you're doing any more right!" Shark shot back. "I was an idiot back then! Sure I was fighting for my fellow Barians, but the way I did it was completely wrong. The lives of those I cared about weren't worth the lives of the people of Earth and Astral World, or my friendship with Yuma! Let me ask you something, Kaito. Was joining with Droite worth betraying me, Yuma and Kotori? Well?"

"If I had remained on your side, I would've had to fight against Droite." Kaito answered. "And I care for her too much to do that. To me, going against you and the rest of this world is a small price to pay to be with her."

"Then I guess we're done talking." Shark replied.

"It's not as if we're killing the people of this world." Droite argued. "They will be elevated to a higher state of being."

"You call what you've done to the people of this city a higher state of being?" Hikari scoffed. "Practically every vampire we've seen around here is nothing but a mindless animal!"

"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand, Signer." Droite told her.

"Forget it, Hikari. There's no reasoning with these two." Shark told her. "The only way to settle things is with this duel. I end my turn!"

Droite drew her next card. "I activate the Spell card, Morphia's Blessing! Because I have a Dead Star Xyz Monster in the Graveyard, I can add a Rank-Up-Spell to my hand." With that, Droite pulled a card from the middle of her deck. "Now I activate Rank-Up-Magic Morphia Force! With this card, I revive Butterfly Priestess and elevator to a higher form! Awaken, Dead Star Butterfly Blood Priestess!"

A cold mist covered the ground as a crystal coffin containing Butterfly Priestess appeared on the field. The priestess opened her orange eyes and a stream of purple energy flowed from Shadow Ray Lancer into the crystal. The red crystals surrounding the lancer shattered apart and the energy contained within flowed into the crystal coffin as well. In moments, the priestess' crystal encasement shattered and she emerged in her more powerful red-winged form. Orbiting around the Blood Priestess were five crystal orbs leaving trails of purple light.

Shadow Ray Lancer meanwhile had become withered. His golden spear and the gold emblem on his chest had become tarnished. The lines of red energy on his body had gone dark.

"I activate Blood Priestess' effect!" Droite announced. "By detaching an overlay unit, Blood Priestess destroys your monster!"

One of the crystal orbs orbiting the priestess shattered and she extended her arm towards Shadow Ray Lancer. A bolt of red light shot from the palm of her hand and stuck the aquatic knight, reducing him to a pile of dust.

"And now, because Blood Priestess used her effect to destroy an Xyz Monster, you take damage equal to its Rank time 600 points!" Droite continued.

Blood Priestess raised her hand above her head and shot two bolts of red lightning at Shark and Hikari. Hikari and Shark were struck but managed to remain standing. Their life points took a heavy drop to 5200.

"Because Shadow Ray Lancer and Dead Star Dragon are both in the Graveyard, Blood Priestess' ATK becomes 2600." Droite announced. "Blood Priestess, attack them directly! Blood Swarm of Death!"

The white-haired priestess flapped her red wings, sending forth a massive swarm of butterflies made of red energy. The swarm of insects bombarded Hikari and Shark, exploding as they crashed into them. When the attack finally ended, Shark and Hikari's life points had dropped to 1600.

"I activate my Trap, Shock Draw!" Hikari announced. "This card lets me draw a card for every thousand points of damage Ryoga and I took this turn!"

"Then I set two cards on the field and end my turn." Droite announced.

Hikari drew her next card. "For my first move, I summon Dash Warrior in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Shark and Hikari's side of the battlefield was a warrior clad in smooth red futuristic armor. Its helmet had four yellow eyes like headlights and a black air tube that went from his mouth to his chest. Instead of feet, he had a pair of black wheels.

"Next I discard one card from my hand to summon the Tuner monster, Jackie Jumper!" Hikari announced.

Appearing on the field was a small robot with skis for feet. A sort of metal poncho with an arrow pattern covered its torso. Its head was a helmet with a black visor and three long spikes extending from the back.

"Because I now have a Tuner on the field, I summon the monster I just discarded to summon Jackie Jumper, Quillbolt Hedgehog!" Hikari announced. The bolt-covered rodent appeared on the battlefield. "I tune the level three Jackie Jumper into the level three Dash Warrior and the level two Quillbolt Hedgehog for a level eight Synchro Summon!"

Jackie Jumper flashed orange and turned into three green rings of light. The rings encircled Hikari's other two monsters and changed them into five white stars.

"Clustering hopes will become a new shining star! Become the path its light shines upon!" Hikari chanted. "Synchro Summon! Take flight, Stardust Dragon!"

The stars flashed into a brilliant column of white light that shot into the air. The light faded in moments to reveal Hikari's silvery-white dragon.

"I activate Blood Priestess' effect!" Droite announced. "Because Stardust Dragon's ATK is lower than hers, I detach one of Blood Priestess' overlay units to destroy it!"

"Then I activate Stardust Dragon's effect!" Hikari announced. "By sending Stardust to the Graveyard, I can negate Blood Priestess' effect and destroy her!"

Another one of the crystal orbs rotating around Blood Priestess shattered and she extended her arm towards Stardust Dragon. As soon as she did though, Stardust roared and flew into her. Both monsters shattered into particles of blue-green stardust.

"Nice move, Hikari." Shark praised.

"Yeah…" Hikari responded with a suspicious look.

"What's wrong?" Shark asked.

"Something's off." Hikari answered. "That was way too easy."

"Are you done?" Droite asked.

"Fine. I'll set three cards on the field and end my turn." Hikari announced. "And with the end of my turn, Stardust Dragon returns to the field!"

Particles of stardust began to gather together in the air and reformed into Stardust Dragon. The silvery dragon roared and flapped his wings, scattering more particles of stardust onto the field.

Kaito drew his next card. "I activate Rank-Up-Magic Morphia Force! With this card, I revive Dead Star Dragon from the Graveyard and evolve him into the supreme dragon of extinction! Awaken, Neo Galaxy-Eyes Dead Star Dragon!"

A large crystal containing the dormant dragon appeared on the field. Its eyes flashed to life and a stream of purple energy began to flow from Stardust Dragon into the crystal. In moments the crystal shattered apart and Kaito's three-headed dragon appeared on the field with a roar. A single crystal orb orbited around it. Meanwhile, Stardust Dragon's scales had gone dull and his body had become shriveled.

"I activate a Trap, Morphia's Gift!" Droite announced. "When a Dead Star Xyz Monster is summoned to the field with the effect of a Rank-Up-Magic card, I can attach this card to that monster as an overlay unit!" Droite's Trap turned into another crystal orb that began to orbit around Kaito's glowing dragon.

"I activate Cloud Dragon's effect from the Graveyard!" Kaito announced. "One time only, I can attach Cloud Dragon to a Galaxy-Eyes Xyz Monster I control as an overlay unit!"

Cloud Dragon reappeared on the battlefield and turned into a third crystal orb. The orb began to orbit around Neo Dead Star with the other two crystals.

"This was their plan all along." Hikari realized. "Droite wanted me to destroy Blood Priestess."

"What do you mean?" a surprised Shark asked.

"I don't know Droite as well as you do, but from her duel with Gauche I could tell that she's a calculating player." Hikari explained. "She makes all her moves carefully. And she had to know that I would use Stardust Dragon's effect to destroy Blood Priestess, yet she used her effect anyway without any sort of counter move to stop me. The only reason Droite would make a move like that is because she wanted Blood Priestess in the Graveyard from the start to power up Neo Dead Star!"

"You're pretty sharp. You really do take after your father." Kaito praised. "Droite and I knew that to beat a player with your inherited talent we'd need our strongest monster at its most powerful."

"Right now there are four Xyz Monsters in the Graveyard." Droite continued. "My Butterfly Priestess and Blood Priestess, and Shark's Black Ray Lancer and Shadow Ray Lancer. All four of these monsters give boost Neo Dead Star's ATK by 2000, which means his ATK right now is 6500."

"The two of you only have 1600 life points left. And thanks to Morphia Force, Stardust Dragon's ATK is now zero." Kaito added. "There's no way you beat us now. It's over."

"Don't be so sure!" Hikari told them. "You may have the strongest monster on the field right now, but this duel is far from being over!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** As I've written more and more Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfics I've tended to avoid writing tag duels because they take so long to do. In this case though I made a major exception. One thing I'm a little proud of in this chapter is the CXyz form I came up for Shark's Black Ray Lancer. I was kind of disappointed that we never got to see Shark use Barian's Force on some of his older Xyz Monster in the anime after he became Nasch. I only wish I could've shown off Shadow Ray Lancer's full power in this story.

Please review and let m know what you think.


	13. The Dead City

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 12: The Dead City

"You're deluded if you still think you and Shark still have a chance at winning this duel." Kaito told Hikari.

"Well if you're so sure about that, then attack." Hikari dared. "We're wide open."

"Fine! Neo Dead Star, obliterate Stardust Dragon!" Kaito ordered. "Ultimate Extinction Stream!"

"I activate a Trap, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" Hikari quickly announced. "This card blocks Neo Dead Star's attack!"

The three heads of Kaito's red dragon of light fired three streams of light from their mouths that cam together to form a single blast of red energy. Moments before the attack could hit though, Hikari's scarecrow of junk popped up in front of Stardust Dragon and blocked the blast with an invisible shield. When the attack ended, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow vanished from the battlefield.

"I knew you might try a move like that, so I activate a Trap of my own, Dead Star Rampage!" Droite announced. "When the attack of a Dead Star monster is negated, this card allows it to attack a second time this turn!"

"Neo Dead Star, attack Stardust Dragon again! Ultimate Extinction Stream!" Kaito commanded. The dragon opened its three mouths a second time and sent forth another blast.

"Then I activate another Trap, Defense Draw!" Hikari announced. "This card blocks the damage from your attack and allows me to draw one more card!"

The blast of red energy stuck Stardust Dragon and vaporized him in an instant. When the attack was over however, Shark and Hikari's life points were untouched. As the smoke from Neo Dead Star's last attack cleared, Durbe and the other entered the lab. Yuma and Alit had already regained consciousness.

"Oh boy. This does not look good." Vector observed as he assessed the situation.

"Shark and Hikari are really dueling Kaito and Droite?" Yuma asked.

"Yes. And it appears that they're losing badly." Durbe replied.

"I'll end my turn there." Kaito announced.

"Then I'm gonna end this right now!" Shark declared as he drew his next card. The card flashed with a red light as it was taken from the deck. "I activate Rank-Up-Magic The Seventh One! With this card I summon Number 101: Silent Honors ARK and use it to Xyz Summon Number C101: Silent Honors DARK!"

A large swirling vortex in the form of a galaxy formed behind Shark and Hikari. Flying out of the vortex was a vehicle that looked like a small blue submarine with three very long spikes projecting outward from the front. Suddenly bursting out from the circular window of the craft's small cockpit was a humanoid figure clad completely in dark-blue armor. In his right hand he carried a long red spear. Projecting back from the armor on his waist were two long fin-like blades. Adorning the right blade was the number 101 in light-blue alien writing.

"I activate the effect of Silent Honors DARK!" Shark announced. "One per turn I can have him attach an opponent's special summoned monster on the field to himself as another overlay unit! And the monster I choose is Neo Galaxy-Eyes Dead Star Dragon!"

A beam of blue light shot from Number C101's chest towards Neo Dead Star. But before the beam of light could hit, it struck some kind of invisible barrier.

"What the… what the hell just happened?" Shark demanded to know.

"Nice try, but Neo Dead Star can't be targeted by the effects of Number monsters." Kaito explained with a small smirk.

"No way!" Alit exclaimed. "Silent Honors was their last shot at getting rid of that dragon! How're they supposed to win now?"

"Don't worry. I'm sure Nasch and Hikari will find a way." Durbe assured him.

"I'll set one card on the field and end my turn!" a somewhat irritated Shark announced.

"Then prepare yourselves for the end!" Droite told them as she drew her next card.

"Guys, wait!" Yuma interrupted. "Do all of you really have to go through with this?"

"Stay out of this, Yuma." Shark told him. "This is no different from the duel we had two years ago. The only way we can settle things with Kaito and Droite now is to fight them."

"But…" Yuma tried to argue.

"Forget it, Yuma. It's pointless for you to try and talk them out of this." Vector told him. "The only thing we can do now is watch."

"I there are no more interruptions, then I play the Spell, Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" Droite announced. A small twister appeared on the field and blew Hikari's Trap to bits. "Now… Neo Dead Star, attack Silent Honors DARK! Ultimate Extinction Stream!"

"I activate a Trap, Poseidon Wave!" Shark announced. "This card negates Neo Dead Star's attack! And since Hikari and I have a Water monster on the field, you take 800 points of damage!"

Just as Neo Dead Star was about to fire another blast from its jaws, a massive wave of water came in and washed over the entire battlefield. The wave passed and Kaito and Droite's life points had taken a small drop to 4300.

"You two are harder to get rid of than we thought." Droite remarked. "I'll end my turn."

Hikari drew her next card. "I summon Mono Synchron in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a small green and yellow robot. On the end of each of its arms in place of a hand was a large red stamp of the number one.

"Next I activate Monster Reborn and bring back Fortress Warrior from the Graveyard!" Hikari announced. The large stone warrior materialized again on the battlefield. "When I perform a Synchro Summon using Mono Synchron as the Tuner, the other monster used as material becomes a level one. So I tune the level one Mono Synchron with the now level one Fortress Warrior for a level two Synchro Summon!"

Mono Synchron fired a red beam from one of its stamps at Fortress Warrior, hitting the stone figure in the forehead. A large red number one appeared on Fortress Warrior's head. Mono Synchron flashed orange and changed into a green ring of light that encircled Fortress Warrior. Fortress Warrior then changed into a single white star.

"Clustering wills shall come together and break the barrier to a new speed's horizon! Become the path its light shines upon!" Hikari chanted. "Synchro Summon! The power of light, Synchro Tuner, Warship Synchron!"

The star flashed and became a horizontal column of golden light. Emerging from the light was a small blue and white spacecraft with two green blade-like wings on each side. On top of the ship was a black helmet with a single red light for an eye.

"Now I activate my final face-down card, Wicked Rebirth!" Hikari announced. "By paying 800 life points, I can bring Stardust Dragon back from the Graveyard!"

Shark and Hikari's life points dropped to 800. In the next instant Stardust Dragon flew up through a hole of white light that had appeared in the ground.

"That ends my turn." Hikari announced.

"That's it? You're not going to try and put up a better defense than that?" a somewhat surprised Kaito asked.

"Just make your move." Hikari told him.

"Fine then!" Kaito agreed as he drew his card. Hikari meanwhile took a breath and closed her eyes. "Neo Dead Star, attack Stardust Dragon. Ultimate Extinction Stream!"

"Clustering crystal dreams open the door to a new evolution! Become the path its light shines upon!" Hikari began to chant as a gust of wind suddenly picked up around her. Meanwhile the three-headed dragon fired another blast. "Accel Synchro!"

Suddenly Stardust Dragon and Warship Synchron took off in a streak of pinkish-red light and vanished from the room, causing Neo Dead Star's attack to continue on and hit nothing. As everyone else tried to figure out what had just happened, a hole in space appeared behind Hikari and a new dragon shot out of it like a bullet, much to everyone's surprise. The new dragon resembled Stardust Dragoon but was slightly larger and more muscular. It had a sleeker head with shorter horns. The dragon's wings had become more like fins, and had gained a second pair that jutted upright out of its back.

"Be born, Shooting Star Dragon!" Hikari called out.

"What… what kind of summoning was that?" a stunned Yuma asked.

"That's… impossible!" an equally stunned Kaito declared. "I've read about this summoning method, but I thought it required a D-Wheel!"

"Normally you'd be right, but thanks to the powers I inherited from my mom I don't need a D-Wheel to pull off Accel Synchro." Hikari explained.

Kaito quickly shook off his amazement. "Well, even if you were able to summon a new monster, it only has 3200 ATK. It still can stand against my dragon! Neo Dead Star, attack Shooting Star Dragon with Ultimate Extinction Stream!"

"I activate Shooting Star Dragon's effect!" Hikari announced. "By banishing it until the end of the turn, I can negate your dragon's attack!"

Neo Dead Star fired another shot from its three heads at Shooting Star Dragon. But before the attack could strike, Shooting Star Dragon vanished with a flash of green light. Neo Dead Star's attack hit a barrier of green energy that suddenly appeared.

"I guess I'll end my turn then." Kaito announced. With the end of his turn, Shooting Star Dragon reappeared in another flash of green light.

Shark drew his next card. "I'll set one card on the field and end my turn!"

Droite drew her next card. "I activate the Spell card, Dead Star Burner! With this card, I detach all of Neo Dead Star's overlay units and inflict 500 points of damage for each one!"

Suddenly the three crystal spheres orbiting Neo Dead Star ignited with crimson flames. The spheres broke their orbit around the three-headed dragon and headed for Shark and Hikari.

"I activate my Trap, Lightning Rod Trident!" Shark quickly announced. "Since you activated an effect that inflicts damage, I can tribute Silent Honors DARK and bring that damage to zero!"

As the spheres neared Shark and Hikari, Number C101 quickly jumped in the way and took the hit. The aquatic dark knight was instantly destroyed in a flash of fire and smoke.

"How noble of you to sacrifice your monster like that." Droite remarked. "Unfortunately you've only just dug yourselves deeper. Thanks to that last move, Dead Star Dragon, Silent Honors ARK and Silent Honors DARK are now in the Graveyard. Which means Neo Dead Star's ATK is now 8000."

"Power up your dragon as much as you want." Hikari dared. "In the end it won't mean anything! Ryoga and I are still going to win!"

"I can't attack anyway because I used Dead Star Burner." Droite revealed. "So I'll end my turn. But I'm only going to say this one more time. You should both just give up. In the end your struggles are pointless."

"Ryoga and I will never give up! Now while we card still draw cards from our decks!" Hikari declared. "I can't let your reign of destruction any longer! So one way or another, I'm taking you both down!"

With that, Hikari's Signer Mark began to glow. At the same time, the top card of Hikari's deck began to shine with a red light.

Hikari drew her next card. "From my hand I equip Shooting Star Dragon with the monster, Dragon Star Weapon-Dead Star Killer!"

Appearing on the field was a monster that looked like a red spacecraft with a cockpit shaped like the head of a dragon. On the sides of the craft was a pair of rocket engines that broke off and flew over to connect to the top of Shooting Star Dragon's wings. From the front end of each rocket extended a long silver spike. The spacecraft's head then disconnected from the rest of vehicle. It flew over and attached itself to Shooting Star Dragon's chest like a piece of armor. The rest of the craft attached itself to the silver dragon's back, becoming like a large booster engine.

"Dead Star Killer?" Alit repeated. "You mean all this time Shark's girlfriend had a card that could kill Dead Star monsters?"

"I'm not so sure." Mizael answered. "I think that card is some kind of incarnation of the Crimson Dragon that we saw earlier. It appeared in her deck with her determination to defeat Tenjo and his wench."

"Because he's equipped with Dead Star Killer, Shooting Star Dragon's ATK rises to 5100!" Hikari revealed. "But that's not all. Thanks to Dead Star Killer, any Xyz Monster that Shooting Star Dragon attacks loses ATK equal to its own!"

"What?" Kaito exclaimed. "But… that means…"

"It means your dragon's toast!" Shark finished.

"I activate Shooting Star Dragon's effect and pick up the top five cards from my deck!" Hikari announced. "For every Tuner among the five cards I pick up, Shooting Star Dragon gets an attack!" She took the first five cards on top of her deck and looked at them. "Two of the monsters I picked up are Krebons and Debris Dragon! Which means Shooting Star Dragon can attack two times!"

With that, Shooting Star Dragon split into two versions of itself. One of the copies glowed with a red light while the other glowed blue.

"Go all out, Shooting Star Dragon!" Hikari commanded. "Star Slayer Blitz!"

Both dragons flew forward at full speed. The blue dragon collided with Neo Dead Star, destroying the three-headed beast in a massive explosion. The remaining dragon continued on and hit Kaito and Droite. The life points dropped to zero. With the duel at an end, Shooting Star Dragon vanished. Kaito and Droite both fell to their knees.

"Kaito!" Shark called as he and Hikari went over.

A small smile appeared on Kaito's face. "Well… looks like you two were able to beat us after all."

"What's happening to you two?" Shark asked.

"I want you both to know that Droite and I don't have any regrets about all that's happened." Kaito continued. "But you should probably know… you've probably already lost."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hikari asked.

Kaito and Droite merely looked at one another. Smiling, they both took each other's hands. Suddenly, the two of them changed into balls of red energy that shot through the ceiling of the lab, leaving a pair of holes.

"Does… does this mean Kaito and Droite are…?" Yuma began to ask.

Before anyone could respond, everyone suddenly heard several unholy noises coming from outside of the lab. They sounded like screams of some kind, but they didn't sound at all human.

"What the hell was that?" Gilag asked.

To answer his question, Orbital sped into the room. "Y-Y-Yuma!"

"What is it, Orbital?" Yuma asked.

"It's Kotori… s-s-she's gone!" the robot explained. "She turned into some kind of energy and flew through the ceiling. The same thing seems to be happening to every other vampire in the building."

"Oh god!" Hikari spoke as a look of horror appeared on her face.

Before anyone could ask about her reaction, Hikari quickly ran out of the lab. Shark and the others ran after her. In moments they exited the tower and stood outside the door. Outside they say several balls of red light shooting into the sky.

"What's happening?" Shark asked.

"In some of the old stories about vampires… killing the head vampire also killed off every other vampire he or she created." Hikari recalled. "When we killed Kaito and Droite in that duel, every vampire that sprang from them died too."

"But… practically everyone in Heartland besides us had become a vampire." Cathy realized. "That means…"

"This whole city is dead." Hikari finished.

At that, Yuma fell to his knees as tears began to stream down his face. "That… that can't be…. Kotori… Kaito… my sister… everyone's gone?"

Suddenly a loud booming noise was heard from above. Everyone looked up to see what looked like a massive black spaceship floating above the city. The ship had a very organic look and resembled a whale. On the sides of the craft was a pair of large bat-like wings in place of where the whale's dorsal flippers might be.

"Now what?" Vector complained.

"That ship… that was in that vision I saw earlier." Hikari recalled. "The one the Crimson Dragon showed me during Kaito and Mizael's duel."

Suddenly a small point of blue light began to shine from underneath the ship. An object emerged from that point and began to fly down towards the group. It wasn't long before they could see that the object was a transparent crystal coffin containing a mummified corpse. As the coffin flew, several of the red balls of energy that had once been vampires flew into the coffin. The crystal casket stopped before the group and exploded with a flash of blue light.

The light faded after a moment to reveal a woman who appeared to be in her twenties with very pale skin and long white hair that grew down a little past her waist. She was nude for a moment, but the floating shards of her coffin quickly formed into her clothing. Appearing around her waist was a silver belt with a butterfly-shaped crest on the front. Hanging from the belt was a long white skirt made from a shimmering fabric. On her chest appeared a piece of silver armor that left her midriff exposed and showed off her large cleavage. On her back was a long white cape made from the same shimmering fabric as her skirt. Silver bracelets appeared around her wrists, and hanging from her neck was that same butterfly necklace that Droite had worn as a vampire.

The white-haired woman floated to the ground and opened her orange eyes. The others were shocked to notice that her face looked almost exactly like Droite's.

"Droite, is that you?" Yuma asked.

The woman looked at Yuma with a cold emotionless expression. "Droite? …I see. From the sound of it, my daughter bared a very striking resemblance to me. One strong enough for you to mistake me for her."

"You're trying to say that you're Droite's mother?" Shark asked.

"This is the woman that was in my vision." Hikari quickly realized. "Who are you?"

"I am Morphia." The woman answered. "As of now, the life of this world belongs to me."

* * *

**Author's Note:** The Synchro Tuner that Hikari used in this chapter is a card that I came up with to use in _5D's Alternative Book 3: The God of Time_. Rather than letting the player Synchro Summon during the opponent's Main Phase of the opponent's turn when most monster and Spell card effects would be used, it Synchro Summons during the opponent's Battle Phase. Originally that card was used by Z-one in _The God of Time_. I changed the coloring of the monster in this story since Hikari was the one using it. Another concept I brought back from my 5D's Alternative series is the Dragon Star Weapon monsters like the one Hikari used to beat Kaito and Droite. I designed them to work like the ZEXAL Weapon monsters used by Yuma and Astral, but for the Signer Dragons.

So in the next chapter, our heroes confront Droite's mother (in this story). Will they be able to defeat her? Is there a way to bring back Droite, Kaito, Kotori, and everyone else in Heartland? Stay tuned to find out.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	14. Morphia

**Author's Note:** As it turns out, there isn't really any work that I have to do this week for the new online class I just started taking. So I might actually be able to finish this story this week. Just thought I'd mention that.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 13: Morphia

"So you're this mother goddess that Droite mentioned before." Hikari observed.

"I am the first of my people to attain the form of existence we now have." Morphia confirmed. "When I achieved this state, I quickly elevated the other people of my old world to the same existence."

"Just what the hell are you things, anyway?" Shark asked.

"Our old name has long been forgotten." Morphia replied. "The word, vampire is as good a name to use for us as any. But eons ago we were not unlike you humans. We had the same mortal existence as you do. We had also attained a high level of technological advancement. Yet one day we found that the star our planet orbited was on the verge of death, which also spelled the end of our world as well.

"My people began to search for our race to survive. As technologically advanced as we were, we had no way of saving our dying sun. And the technology we had to travel into the stars was in its infancy. The best my people could do was to build a generational ship that could only travel through space at an extremely slow speed. For me, that was not good enough. So while the scholars of my world continued in vein to save my people through science, I turned to the spiritual for a solution.

"I determined that to survive, my people needed to evolve into a new type of being. I studied ancient myths from my world that told of a people of light that had ascended to a higher form by a process known as Ranking Up. So I tried to do the same thing through meditation and mysticism. I don't remember if it had taken me days or months, but through my efforts I became the being that you now see before you, an immortal creature beyond the grasp of death. Of course I found that the transformation came at its price. To remain active, I found that I needed to drain the life force from other beings.

"Despite the costs however, the new form of existence was infinitely better than the alternative of the fate that awaited my people. So I elevated the rest of my race to my plain. After most of my kind had evolved, we used our abilities to improve the arc we had created to escape our dying world and left to travel the stars. It is that arc that is now above your city."

"You're saying that all the people of your world are aboard that ship that's above us?" Durbe asked.

"Most of them." Morphia confirmed. "There were some who resisted the transformation, but they were quickly eliminated."

"In other words, there were people who didn't agreed with your way of thinking, so you killed them for it." Hikari observed.

"I took no joy from it." Morphia indifferently replied. "I was simply being practical. They couldn't understand the great gift that I was trying to give them. In the end, they would've died anyway from staying on our dying world."

"So what exactly did you vampires do once you got into space?" Shark asked.

"We sought out other worlds with life." Morphia answered. "Both to learn about them and to drain their life force to sustain ourselves."

"You mean you've destroyed other worlds?" an appalled Hikari asked.

"We did not bring destruction." Morphia told her. "We gave them eternity by elevating them to our plain. You cannot even begin to comprehend the bliss that is our existence. Our minds, our very souls are connected on a level that you can never achieve as humans."

"But the people of those worlds you drained the life out of never asked for that existence!" Hikari argued. "You and your people just moved in and stole those lives from them!"

"Just how many worlds did you 'elevate' during your travels?" Shark asked.

"It is impossible to say." Morphia answered. "Just as it is impossible to tell you how long we have existed. When you live for eternity, you stop bothering to keep track of the years."

"There's one thing that I'd like to know." Vector cut in. "Just how exactly were you and your people sealed away?"

"You already know some of the story through my daughter, but I will explain a little of how things led to that point." Morphia replied. "One of the ultimate goals of my people and I was to find that world of light spoken of in our myths, the world where its people had achieved a higher existence through Ranking Up. Over time we achieved the means to cross the barriers to other dimensions and eventually came to that world of light."

"You found Astral World." Vector deduced. "So what happened then?"

"Our hope was that by joining with the people of Astral World, we could attain an even higher state of being than we had before." Morphia explained. "They seemed to strive for the same thing that we did, which was to continue to Rank Up and evolve. But in the end, they sent their envoy to oppose us."

"So you fought Astral and lost." Shark replied.

"And as punishment we were sealed away in another dimension where nothing else existed." Morphia continued. "We tried to break free of our prison, but the barrier was far too strong."

"If there was nothing else in that dimension you were trapped in, why didn't you die out?" Mizael asked. "I thought you said you needed to drain the life force of other beings to survive."

"You misunderstand. We do not need life force in order to live, merely to remain active." Morphia explained. "Our bodies do not decay. They can be destroyed through accident or violence, and they do become withered if energy is not replenished. But as long as our physical forms exist, we continue to live. We became dormant trapped in that void for untold eons. Though our bodies become inert, our minds continued to remain active, waiting for the eventual time when we would be revived."

"What about Droite?" Hikari asked. "You said that she was your daughter. How is that even possible?"

"My daughter was a surprise even to me." Morphia replied. "One day my people came up another world with beings not unlike you humans, just as my race once was. I found a rather handsome male of that race and decided to mate with him before draining him. But as a result I had become pregnant with his seed, something that I did not expect to happen. When I finally gave birth to her, I found that she was more like a human than my own kind. I did however see that she could easily become one of us. All I needed to do was awaken her.

"But I decided that my daughter needed to reach adulthood before I awakened her true self. Around this same time, my people began our siege on Astral World. I sensed that the people of Astral World might resist, and taking their power into account I decided to take some precautions for the sake of my daughter and the rest of my people. So I placed her in a crystal pod and launched her into a portal through space and time. Through chance she ended up on your world and lived life as a relatively normal human. Then eventually a doorway to my people's prison was opened and I was able to awaken her. The web of destiny led my daughter back to me, and she became the key to my people's long awaited revival."

"So what, Droite was just a tool to you?" Hikari asked.

"Do not misunderstand me. I care for my daughter a great deal, just as much as I care for the rest of my people." Morphia told her. "Through the centuries my consciousness was able to reach out to hers, and I was able to witness her hard life growing up on this world. I wish that I could've made her human existence easier somehow. If it is any comfort to you, her soul now exists within me, as do the souls of my daughter's consort and the souls of every other person in this city."

"And what the hell kind of existence is that?" Hikari demanded to know.

"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand." Morphia coldly replied.

"Oh, I understand alright!" Hikari shot back. "What I understand is that you're a total psycho!"

"Your opinion of me is irrelevant." Morphia told her. "I merely explained my origins and the origins of my people to you so that you could all better understand what is to come. The life of this world will be drained, and the rest of your people shall become like us."

"That's not gonna happen." Yuma suddenly declared as he rose back to his feet and stepped forward. "My friends and I are gonna stop you right here and now!"

"You wish to challenge me?" Morphia observed. "Are you merely trying to save your world, or are you trying to avenge your fallen comrades?"

"Of course I'm trying to save my world." Yuma confirmed. "But I'm also going to save Kotori, Kaito and everyone else in this city who became a vampire! I heard what you said about the souls of Kaito and the others being inside you, and I believe that if I beat you I can somehow bring them back!"

"And what do you base this belief on?" Morphia asked.

"I don't know. But I have faith that if I can beat you, I can bring back all the souls you took!" Yuma declared as he grabbed the golden key hanging from his neck. "So I'm gonna give it everything I've got!"

"I'm with Yuma!" Shark declared. "I don't know about bringing back everyone in Heartland who was turned, but I'll fight you to save this world and make you pay for everything you've done!"

"I'm in too!" Hikari declared. "I don't know if beating you will bring everyone back like Yuma thinks. But there is one thing I do know, Morphia! And that's that you and your people have to be destroyed!"

"So be it." Morphia agreed. "If you wish to face me, then we can do battle right now."

Yuma, Shark and Hikari all activated their D-Gazers and duel disks. Meanwhile, the bracelet on Morphia's left write glowed with a blue light and changed shape. The light faded from the piece of jewelry to reveal that it had taken the form of a silver duel disk with a panel shaped like the wing of a butterfly. A deck appeared in Morphia's deck holder with another flash of blue light. At the same time, a red tattoo in the shape of a butterfly appeared around her left eye, which changed from orange to blue. As soon as everyone else's D-Gazers activated, the color of the surrounding area changed slightly. A large circle of blue light appeared beneath the feet of Morphia and her three opponents and caused them to rise a few feet into the air. With each side's life points set at 12000, the duel was ready to commence.

"I will let one of you go first." Morphia decided.

"Then it's my move!" Shark declared as he drew his first card. "I'll set one card on the field and summon Drill Barnacle in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a large sea creature with several pink drills that were retracted into the shell that was its back. On its underside was a mouth filled with several tendrils.

"That ends my turn!" Shark announced.

"Now it's my move!" Yuma announced as he drew his first card. "I summon Gogogo Golem in Defense Mode and end my turn!"

Appearing on the battlefield next to Drill Barnacle was a creature with an almost football-shaped body made of smooth red brick. Rather than a head, it had a single red eye that was visible through a slot at the top of its round torso. It had thick arms ending in very large black stone hands, and on its back was a pair of cylinders that resembled gun barrels.

Hikari drew her first card. "I set one card on the field and summon Fortress Warrior in defense Mode!" The giant stone warrior appeared on the field holding his control tower top above his head. "That ends my turn!"

Morphia calmly drew her first card. "I summon Dead Light Specter in Attack Mode."

Appearing on Morphia's side of the battlefield was a humanoid figure made of light-blue light. The shape of the figure appeared to be female. She seemed to have of a long transparent dress and long flowing hair. She appeared to be featureless except for a pair of red eyes.

"When Dead Light Specter is summoned to the field, I can special summon a monster of light from my hand at the cost of making that monster's ATK zero." Morphia announced. Suddenly a familiar large red cross appeared in her right hand. "Appear and serve me, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"

Morphia threw the cross into the air, causing it to explode with a brilliant blue light. The light soon faded and Kaito's glowing blue dragon descended to the battlefield.

"How could that witch have seized control of Photon Dragon?" a stunned Mizael wondered.

"How can you have Kaito's dragon?" Yuma demanded to know.

"When I absorbed your friend's soul, I also gained his cards." Morphia explained. "Now then, when Dead Light Specter summons a monster to the field, her level becomes the same as that monster's. Which means her level rises from four to eight."

"Don't tell me…" Shark spoke.

"I overlay Photon Dragon and Dead Light Specter to summon the dragon of extinction!" Morphia announced. "Arise and serve me, Galaxy-Eyes Dead Star Dragon!"

A large vortex of purple light appeared in the center of the battlefield. Photon Dragon and Dead Star Dragon changed into balls of purple energy and were pulled in. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was the purple butterfly-winged dragon of light that Kaito had used as a vampire.

"Because I now control a Dead Star Xyz Monster, I summon two Dead Light Bats using their effects." Morphia announced.

Materializing on the field was a pair of small balls of light-blue light. Each ball of light had a small pair of purple crystal batwings.

"I overlay these two level four monsters and Xyz Summon Dead Star Butterfly Priestess!" Morphia announced.

Another vortex of purple light appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Both winged balls of light changed into purple energy and were sucked in. Rising out of the center of the anomaly a moment later was Droite's butterfly-winged priestess.

"This is nuts!" Alit exclaimed. "Morphia just summoned both of Kaito and Droite's Dead Star monster in the same turn!"

"How are Yuma and the others supposed to survive against that?" Cathy asked.

"You three shall soon see that no matter what you do, you cannot prevail against me." Morphia told them. "Your resistance is futile."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Originally the final duel wasn't going to start until the next chapter. But the exposition about the vampires and how Morphia is Droite's mother (in this story) ended up being a lot shorter than I thought it'd be. I have this funny little policy about not posting any chapters that aren't at least close to being 2,000 words. Under other circumstances, I probably just would've waited until tomorrow to finish this chapter, but I didn't want to wait another day to put it up. So I sort of had to improv the first few turns of the duel on the spot. Of course I already have at least a pretty good idea of how this duel is going to go anyway.

As for the origin of Morphia and the rest of the space vampires, I admit that I was a little sketchy going into it. I actually feel like I could've come up with something just a little better. Looking at it now, Morphia and her vampires turned out to be a bit like the Borg from Star Trek (I even admitted that with Morphia's final line in the chapter). Maybe one of these days I'll come back and edit this chapter a little. I also hope that the explanation about Droite's birth and how she ended up on Earth wasn't too "out there".

Please review and let me know what you think.


	15. Human Nature

**Author's Note:** I had intended to get this chapter up yesterday, but I ended up having a few delays. While writing it, I ended up having a migraine and was unable to work on the thing for the rest of the day. Plus I started on it a bit late, and it ended up being a pretty long chapter. I'm also not sure how many people are actually going to see this chapter, because it seems like this site has been having trouble displaying new chapters. I know K.I.T.T. RIDER has been having problems with the updates for one of her stories.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 14: Human Nature

"You think you can scare us by summoning Kaito and Droite's two monsters?" Shark asked Morphia. "Hikari and I beat those things before, and we can do it again!"

"We shall see." Morphia replied. "Butterfly Priestess, eliminate Drill Barnacle! Life Extinguisher!"

"I activate my Trap, Shift!" Hikari quickly announced. "This card lets me redirect your attack to Fortress Warrior! And once per turn, Fortress Warrior can't be destroyed in battle!"

Butterfly Priestess extended her arms and fired a blast of purple energy at Shark's sea creature. Suddenly the blast curved and flew towards Fortress Warrior. The giant Stone Warrior bent down and blocked the attack with the structure he held over his head.

"Dead Star Dragon, attack Fortress Warrior!" Morphia commanded. "Dead Star Stream of Extinction!"

"I activate my Trap, Poseidon Wave!" Shark announced. "This card negates your attack and inflicts 800 points of damage!"

Just as the undead dragon of light opened its jaws to fire an attack, a massive wave of water washed over the battlefield. The wave passed and Morphia's life points had taken a very slight fall to 11200.

"I activate the effect of Butterfly Priestess and detach one overlay unit to destroy Gogogo Golem." Morphia announced.

One of the purple balls of light orbiting around the white-haired priestess entered the gem on her necklace. Butterfly Priestess raised her hands above her head and fired a bolt of purple light at Yuma's stone monster. Gogogo Golem dissolved into a pile of dust that blew away in the breeze.

"It seems I was able to destroy at least one of your monsters." Morphia observed. "I shall set one card on the field and end my turn."

Shark drew his first card. "I summon Big Jaws in Attack Mode!" The blue large-fanged shark materialized on the battlefield. "I overlay the level three Big Jaws and Drill Barnacle to Xyz summon Black Ray Lancer!"

A vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and both of Shark's monsters changed into two balls of blue energy before being pulled in. Shark's black aquatic dark spearman rose out of the center of the vortex moments later with two balls of blue light orbiting around it.

"Now I activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Barian's Force!" Shark announced. "With this card, I use Black Ray Lancer to rebuild the overlay network and summon CXyz Shadow Ray Lancer!"

A black hole surrounded by a strange green mist-like energy appeared right above the battlefield and pulled Black Ray Lancer in. The dark spearman emerged from the anomaly moments later. Dropping down to the field around it were three red cross-shaped crystals.

"That's not all!" Shark continued. "I use the effect of Barian's Force to steal Dead Star Dragon's overlay units and reduce its ATK to 2400!"

A red light shot from Shadow Ray Lancer and struck Dead Star Dragon. The two balls of light orbiting the dragon were pulled along the path of the beam and changed into two more red crystals. The two new crystals landed on the floor of the battlefield around Shadow Ray Lancer.

"I attack Dead Star Dragon with Shadow Ray Lancer and activate his effect!" Shark announced. "By detaching one overlay unit, Shadow Ray Lancer gains the ATK of the monster he's attacking during the battle!"

Shadow Ray Lancer raised his spear to attack and aimed it at Dead Star Dragon. One of the crystals around him shattered into particles of light that flowed into the shaft of the spear.

"Ultimate Harpoon!" Shark called out.

Shadow Ray Lancer threw his golden spear at Dead Star Dragon. The spear glowed red and grew in size as it flew through the air. Dead Star Dragon was struck in the chest and exploded in a blinding flash of purple light. The light faded and Morphia's life points had fallen to 8600.

"Alight!" Gilag cheered from the ground below. "One Dead Star monster down!"

"I'm not at all surprised that Nasch was able to destroy that false Galaxy-Eyes." Mizael remarked.

"Something's not right." Vector spoke. "Morphia seems way too calm about losing her strongest monster like that."

"You're right." Durbe agreed. "She must be planning something."

"I end my turn." Shark announced. "You're up, Yuma."

"Got it!" Yuma enthusiastically replied as he drew his next card. "I summon Gogogo Giant in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a very large humanoid creature with a body made of very smooth brown and blue stone. Its brown mask-like head had a single red eye. The very build of the figure seemed to be like that of an action figure.

"When Gogogo Giant is summoned, I can summon Gogogo Golem from the Graveyard and switch Gogogo Giant to Defense Mode!" Yuma announced. His first one-eyed stone monster appeared on the battlefield. "I now overlay the level four Gogogo Golem and Gogogo Giant to Xyz Summon Gagaga Cowboy!"

Another vortex appeared in the center of the battlefield and pulled in Yuma's two stone creatures as balls of blue energy. Rising out of the vortex a moment later was a dark-haired man dressed as a cowboy wearing a tattered brown cape and a brown hat. An orange bandana covered the lower half of his face. The rest of his outfit consisted of a green shirt with an olive-green jacket and a pair of long black pants with black boots and a brown belt. In each hand, the cowboy carried a strange green pistol. Orbiting around him were two balls of golden light.

"I equip Gagaga Cowboy with Xyz Unit!" Yuma announced. "This card raises Gagaga Cowboy's ATK from 1500 to 2300!"

"What do you intend to do with that monster?" Morphia asked. "You are aware that Butterfly Priestess can only be killed by a Synchro Monster."

"Not after I activate Shadow Ray Lancer's other effect!" Yuma announced. "Once per turn, Shadow Ray Lancer can negate the effects of another monster on the field until the end of the turn!"

A bolt of red lighting shot from the red gemstone in the gold Barian emblem on Shadow Ray Lancer's chest and struck Butterfly Priestess. Suddenly the winged priestess turned completely grey.

"I attack Butterfly Priestess with Shadow Ray Lancer and activate his effect!" Yuma announced. "Now during this battle, Shadow Ray Lancer gains Butterfly Priestess' ATK!"

The aquatic spearman raised his weapon and another one of the red crystals around him shattered, causing particles of light to flow into the shaft of the weapon. Shadow Ray Lancer threw his weapon at the priestess. The gold spear glowed red and grew in size as it flew through the air. Butterfly Priestess was struck in the chest and exploded in a flash of purple light. Soon after, the spear reappeared in Shadow Ray Lancer's hand.

"Gagaga Cowboy, attack Morphia directly!" Yuma commanded. "Gagaga Bullet!"

The cowboy raised his guns and fired two shots at Droite's white-haired double. The bullets hit their mark and exploded in a flash of fire and smoke. After a moment the smoke cleared, and Morphia's life points had fallen to 3700.

"Yeah! They've got her now!" Alit cheered. "One more attack and Morphia's had it!"

"No. This is going far too easily." Durbe disagreed.

"What do you mean?" Cathy asked.

"Look how calm Morphia is." Durbe pointed out. "It's almost as if losing those two Dead Star monsters meant nothing to her."

"There's one other thing." Vector interjected. "Morphia could of used the effect of Butterfly Priestess to get rid of Gagaga Cowboy as soon as he summoned it. It wouldn't have stopped Shadow Ray Lancer's attack, but it would've at least lessened the damage she would've taken. Then there's that card Morphia still has on the field."

"You're thinking that Morphia wanted her two monsters to be destroyed." Mizael assumed.

"I'm sure we're about to find out." Durbe replied.

Hikari drew her next card. "I summon Psychic Commander in Attack Mode!" The hovercraft-riding soldier appeared on the battlefield. "I tune the level three Psychic Commander into the level two Fortress Warrior for a level five Synchro Summon!"

Psychic Commander flashed orange and changed into three green rings of light. The rings encircled Fortress Warrior and converted him into two white stars.

"Clustering stars come together to signal the coming of an unstoppable fighter! Create the path its light shines upon!" Hikari chanted. "Synchro Summon! Rise up! Scarred Warrior!"

The stars flashed and became a pillar of light, clearing to reveal a muscular warrior with tan skin covered in X-shaped scars. He had a cybernetic right eye and the top of his head was covered in bandages. Bits of armor covered the warrior's chest and left shoulder and his right leg was completely mechanical. His entire right arm was completely wrapped in bandages but had a single metal blade protruding from the forearm. As soon as Scarred Warrior appeared however, an eerie cold washed over the battlefield and he became covered completely in transparent blue crystal.

To the shock of Hikari and her two teammates, Gagaga Cowboy and Shadow Ray Lancer had become frozen in crystal as well. But what was even more surprising was that Dead Star Dragon and Butterfly Priestess had reappeared on the field.

"What the hell?" Shark exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"I activate a Trap, Dead Star Grudge." Morphia explained. "When my opponent performs a Synchro Summon, this card prevents my opponent's monsters from attacking this turn and lets me revive two Dead Star monster from the Graveyard. Of course the monsters revived by this card become rank six and their ATK is reduced to zero."

"You wanted this to happen from the start, didn't you?" Hikari realized.

"Thank you for playing right into my hands, Signer." Morphia replied.

"…I'll set one card on the field and end my turn." A somewhat irritated Hikari announced. As soon as her turn ended, the crystal encasing the team's monsters shattered.

Morphia drew her next card. "The monster I'm about to summon ordinarily needs three level nine monsters to be summoned. But I can also use two Dead Star monsters of the same rank. So I overlay Dead Star Dragon and Butterfly Priestess to Xyz Summon my ultimate creature! Awaken, Dead Star Goddess Lilith!"

A massive vortex of blue light appeared, causing a white mist to wash over the battlefield. Morphia's two Dead Star monsters turned into balls of blue energy and were pulled in. Rising out of the vortex soon after was a woman with ice-blue skin and long white hair similar to Morphia's. She had on a two-piece white dress that showed her midriff. Around her bellybutton was a black tattoo in the shape of a butterfly. The bottom half of the dress was a long skirt that went down past her feet and hung from a silver belt. The top half of the dress was low cut and had long baggy sleeves that hid her hands. Hanging from her neck was a gold necklace that seemed to be a replica of Morphia's, and on her back was a pair of large blue transparent butterfly wings. Two balls of blue light orbited around her.

As soon as she appeared, Lilith opened her yellow cat-like eyes and shot Yuma and Shark's two monsters to beams of blue light. Both Xyz Monsters dissolved to dust in an instant. The balls of light that had been orbiting Gagaga Cowboy turned blue and were pulled into Morphia's orbit. At the same time, the remaining crystals that had still been scatted around Shadow Ray Lancer had also pulled in as balls of blue light. Specks of light drifted from Lilith's wings and showered Morphia, causing her life points to rise to 8600.

"What the heck's going on?" a stunned Yuma asked.

"When Lilith is summoned to the field, all Xyz Monsters my opponent controls are destroyed and their overlay units are attached to Lilith." Morphia explained. "I also gain life points equal to the total attack of all Xyz Monsters destroyed by this effect. Furthermore, because there are now a total of two Xyz Monsters in the Graveyard, Lilith's ATK rises from 3200 to 4200."

"This was Morphia's strategy from the beginning!" Cathy realized.

"Lilith, attack Scarred Warrior!" Morphia commanded. "Life Drainer!"

Lilith extended her arms forward and fired a powerful blast of blue light from her hands. The attack struck Scarred Warrior and the team's life points dropped to 9900. When the blast ended however, Scarred Warrior remained on the field.

"Nice try, but Scarred Warrior can't be destroyed in battle up to once per turn." Hikari told Morphia.

"That may be, but I still did damage with that attack." Morphia pointed out. "Which means I can now activate Lilith's effect. By detaching one overlay unit, Lilith inflicts 1000 more points of damage for each Xyz Monster in the Graveyard!"

One of the balls of blue light orbiting Lilith entered the gem on her necklace. The Dead Star goddess raised her hands above her head and fired three blue bolts of lighting at Hikari and the others. All three members of the team were hit, and their life points dropped to 7900.

"I activate my Trap, Shock Draw!" Hikari announced. "For every 1000 points of damage my friends and I took this turn, I get to draw a card!"

"Then I shall end my turn." Morphia announced.

Shark drew his next card and scowled. "Damn! I summon Shocktopus in Defense Mode and end my turn!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a strange aquatic creature with a narrow purple and yellow shark-like head with four small fins and a long saw-like blade projecting out from the end of his nose. Instead of a tail, it had eight orange tentacles lined with suction cups.

"That's all I can do." Shark told his teammates. "Yuma, let's hope you can do better."

"I'm on it!" Yuma replied as he drew his next card. Upon looking at the card, Yuma smiled and flipped backward. "Okay! I set two cards on the field and end my turn!"

"That's it?" Shark asked with a quirked brow.

"Don't worry. I've got a plan." Yuma assured him. "But if it's gonna work, we'll need that dragon of Hikari's."

"How's Stardust Dragon gonna help?" Shark asked.

"Trust me." Yuma replied with a wink.

"Okay, here goes." Hikari responded with a shrug as she drew her next card. "I summon the Tuner monster, Quick-Span Knight!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a small humanoid robot that was mainly silver in color. It had a large head in the shape of a wrench with two eyes.

"I tune the level three Quick-Span Knight into the level five Scarred Warrior for a level eight Synchro Summon!" Hikari announced.

Quick-Span Knight flashed orange before changing into three green rings of light. The rings encircled the cyborg and changed him into five white stars.

"Clustering hopes will become a new shining star! Become the path its light shines upon!" Hikari chanted. "Synchro Summon! Take flight, Stardust Dragon!"

The stars flashed and became a pillar of white light that shot into the sky. The light faded to reveal Hikari's magnificent silvery dragon.

"I now activate Quick-Span Knight's effect!" Hikari announced. "When Quick-Span Knight is sent to the Graveyard for a Synchro Summon, one monster my opponent controls loses 500 ATK!"

Quick-Span Knight's head reappeared and few through the air and hit Lilith on the cheek. The large metal object left a small red cut, causing Lilith to scowl and bare her fangs.

"Okay Hikari, now attack!" Yuma told her.

"Are you crazy?" Shark exclaimed. "Lilith still has 3700 ATK! There's no way Stardust Dragon can beat it!"

"Trust me!" Yuma responded with a grin and another wink.

"Well, I guess it's worth a shot." Hikari replied. "I equip Stardust Dragon with the Spell, Silver Wing!" The dragon's wings began to glow with a white light. "Stardust Dragon, attack Lilith! Shooting Sonic!"

"I activate a Trap, Moon Barrier!" Yuma announced. "By detaching one overlay unit from an Xyz Monster on the field, I negate Stardust Dragon's attack!"

Stardust Dragon reared back his head and fired a sparking beam of light from his mouth at Lilith. Before the beam could hit, one of the balls of light orbiting Lilith vanished and the attack struck an invisible barrier.

"What was the point of that maneuver?" Morphia asked. "All you've done is remove a single overlay unit from Lilith. A minor victory at best."

"I activate my other face-down card, Double or Nothing!" Yuma announced. "Since Stardust Dragon's attack was negated, he can make a second attack with twice the ATK points!"

"What?" a somewhat startled Lilith exclaimed.

Hikari smirked. "Stardust Dragon, attack Lilith again! Shooting Sonic!"

Stardust Dragon fired another beam of shining light from his mouth. Lilith was struck in the chest and shattered apart. Morphia's life points dropped to 7300.

"Nice one." Shark praised.

"I'll set one card on the field and end my turn." Hikari announced.

Morphia regained her normal calm and drew her next card. "I activate the Spell, Morphia's Charity. This card allows me to draw an extra card for every Xyz Monster in each player's Graveyard. And now I activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Eternal Morphia Force! With this card, I revive Lilith from the Graveyard and elevate her to an even higher state of being!"

Lilith rose from the center of the battlefield inside a transparent crystal coffin. Suddenly Shocktopus changed into a ball of purple light and was pulled into the crystal. Two other balls of light flew from Shark's Graveyard into the crystal as well. Another pair of lights flew from Yuma's Graveyard, followed by three more lights from Hikari's.

"Awaken, Dead Star Goddess Lilith Eternal!" Morphia called out.

The crystal coffin shattered to reveal Lilith in a new form. Her once blue skin had changed to a shade of light purple and an Egyptian headdress had replaced her long white hair. Instead of her long white skirt from before, the Dead Star Goddess wore a short skirt of golden armor that ended well above the knee. On the front of her belt was a golden ankh. The top of her white dress had been replaced by a piece of golden chest armor that revealed her midriff and showed off her cleavage. Golden bracelets adorned her wrists, and on her back was a pair of transparent purple butterfly wings. Orbiting around Lilith were nine crystal orbs that left trails of purple light. As soon as Lilith Eternal awoke, Morphia's life points rose to 11300.

"What's going on?" Yuma asked. "How come Morphia's monster has so many overlay units?"

"Like the original Morphia Force card, Eternal Morphia Force revives a Dead Star monster and evolves it into a monster that is two ranks higher. But in addition to that, all monsters besides Synchro and Xyz Monsters on my opponent's side of the field and in their Graveyard become overlay units for the summoned monster." Morphia explained. "Not only that, I also gain life points equal to the original ATK of the monster I just summoned."

"You're saying that Spell card of yours stole our monsters?" Hikari asked.

"Precisely. Just as I will steal the life from this world once I get through with the three of you." Morphia replied. "Also, because there are currently five Xyz Monsters in the Graveyard, Lilith Eternal's ATK becomes 6500. Now then, for my next move I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy the Signer's face-down card."

A small twister appeared around Hikari's set card. Before shattering apart, her card was revealed to be Scrap-Iron Scarecrow.

"Now… Lilith Eternal, destroy that wretched dragon!" Morphia commanded. "Life Force Stealer!"

Lilith extended her arms forward and shot a blast of purple energy from the palms of her hands. Stardust Dragon was hit, and the team's life points dropped to 3900. When the attack ended, Stardust Dragon was still on the battlefield. Though smoke was rising from his body.

"Due to Silver Wing, Stardust Dragon can survive up to two attacks!" Hikari told Morphia.

"Perhaps, but my attack still did damage, which means I can activate Lilith Eternal's effect." Morphia announced. "By detaching an overlay unit, my opponents must send a number of Xyz Monsters in their Extra Deck to the Graveyard for every 1000 points of damage they took. I know that won't be a problem for you, Signer, but it is a grave problem for your friend and your consort."

One of the crystal spheres orbiting Lilith shattered and she fired two beams of light from her eyes that hit Yuma and Shark. Yuma's cards for Gauntlet Launcher, Gagaga Samurai, One-Eyed Skill Gainer and Heroic Champion-Excalibur flew from the Extra Deck case on his belt into the Graveyard slot on his duel disk by a purple energy. The same happened to Shark's cards for Shark Caesar, Shark Fortress, Submersible Carrier Aero Shark and Bahamut Shark.

"For each card sent to the Graveyard by this effect, I gain 1000 life points." Morphia continued. Her life points rose again to 19300. "But more importantly, Lilith Eternal's ATK now rises to 10500."

"That thing just killed most of Yuma and Shark's strongest cards!" Cathy exclaimed.

"At least Hikari's deck is still mostly intact." Durbe pointed out. "In the end, winning this duel may all be but to her."

"I shall set two cards on the field and end my turn." Morphia announced.

"I've had enough of you!" Shark declared as he drew his next card. The card glowed with a red light as he pulled it from the deck. "I activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic The Seventh One! With this card I summon Number 101: Silent Honors ARK to the field and use it to Xyz Summon Number C101: Silent Honors DARK!"

A large vortex appeared behind Shark and his large blue submarine emerged. The front of the sub's cockpit burst off and Number C101 flew out.

"I activate the Continuous Trap, Morphia's Law!" Morphia announced.

An intense blast of blue energy shot from the large Trap card that Morphia played and struck Silent Honors DARK. Number C101 vanished upon being hit, and the blast continued on and hit Shark. The water duelist nearly fell off the edge of the floating circle of light they had been dueling on, and the team's life points dropped to 1900.

"Ryoga!" a very concerned Hikari called out.

"I'm fine." Shark assured her after recovering from the blast. He then turned his attention back to Morphia. "What the hell did you just do?"

"When triggered, Morphia's Law banishes an Xyz Monster summoned by a Rank-Up-Spell and inflicts 400 points of damage times that monster's rank." Morphia explained. "Furthermore, as long as this card is on the field the only Rank-Up-Magic cards that can be played are Morphia Force and Eternal Morphia Force."

"Damn you!" Shark cursed.

"It seems your anger was once again your undoing." Morphia remarked. "Just as it always has in the past. It is little wonder that you are the weakest of the Barian Emperors."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shark asked. "How the hell do you know anything about me?"

"I've kept my mind on this world during the years of my captivity and know many things." Morphia answered. "I know even more from the memories of gleamed from the souls in this city. And one thing I know about you, Ryoga Kamishiro is that you often let your rage consume you. It is that rage that made it so easy for Don Thousand to turn you into one of his pawns. He didn't have to brainwash you because he knew exactly the right buttons to push by using Vector and your sister. It is this same weakness that the one called Tron exploited. And once again, your rage has led you and those you care about down the path of ruin."

Shark's eyes widened upon realizing that Morphia made a good point. "But… but I…"

"Shark, don't listen to her!" Yuma told him.

"Stay out of this, little boy." Morphia told him. "I'm only telling your friend the truth about himself."

"Yeah? Well I think your truth's bogus!" Yuma declared as he drew his next card. "I summon Gagaga Magician in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a silver-haired wizard clad in black and red. He wore a conical hat that curved forward and a black stocking covered the lower half of his face. On his left foot he wore a red knee-high boot, and on his right he had on a simple brown shoe with a chain coiled around the ankle that went up all the way around his waist up to the back of his head. Attached to the chain was a sort of belt buckle was a kind of gold ornament or charm. On his shoulders were pieces of red armor, and around his neck was a tattered red scarf.

"I activate the spell, Gagaga Bolt!" Yuma announced. "Since I have a Gagaga monster on the field, this card lets me destroy an opponent's monster! And the monster I'm taking down is Lilith Eternal!"

Gagaga Magician raised his fist in the air and shot a bolt of yellow lighting into the air. The bolt hit the clouds and came down back towards Lilith.

"I activate another Trap, Dead Star Punisher!" Morphia announced. "This card negates any effect that targets a Dead Star monster and inflicts damage to my opponent equal to the target's rank times 100."

Just as the bolt of lightning was about to strike Lilith Eternal, it bounced off an invisible barrier and hit Yuma. Yuma was knocked to the edge of the floating platform they were all on and the team's life points dropped even further to 800.

"Did you really think you could oppose me, little boy?" Morphia coldly asked. "Without the envoy of Astral World, you're nothing. You act like the hero, but in the end you're nothing but a weak child."

"That's enough!" Hikari cut in.

"I know many things about you and your family as well, Singer." Morphia responded. "Shall I start with your former lover, or shall I reveal the truth about the old man from the future that your father did battle with before you were born?"

"I don't care about anything you have to say!" Hikari told her. "So maybe me, Ryoga and Yuma aren't perfect. We have flaws, but that's what makes us human. So don't think that rubbing those flaws in our faces is going to help you win!"

"You're still certain that the three of you can defeat me." Morphia replied.

"Just watch!" Hikari told her as she drew her next card. "I summon Tune Jumper in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a young woman with long light-green hair tied back in a ponytail. She had on a black bodysuit that clung tightly to her frame, along with a piece of grey futuristic armor covering her upper torso. Connected by red wires to two pieces of grey armor on her shoulders were two bulky metal gloves. Covering her eyes was a red transparent visor.

"I activate Tune Jumper's effect!" Hikari announced. "By discarding a monster from my hand, Tune Jumper summons a number of level one Tuners from my deck equal to the level of the monster I discarded. So I discard the level two Quillbolt Hedgehog to summon Mono Synchro and Junk Mail!"

Tune Jumper closed her eyes and shot two green beams from the palms of her metal gloves. Mono Synchron materialized on the battlefield along with a monster that looked like a silver helmet with arms and legs.

"Since I now have at least one Tuner on the field, I summon Quillbolt Hedgehog from the Graveyard!" Hikari announced. The bolt-covered rodent appeared on the field. "Any monsters that I tune Mono Synchron become level one. So I tune the level one Mono Synchron into the soon to be level one Quillbolt Hedgehog for a level two Synchro Summon!"

Mono Synchron shot a beam of red light at Quillbolt Hedgehog, causing a red number one to appear on the rodent's body. The green and yellow robot then changed into a ring of green light that encircled Quillbolt Hedgehog, causing him to become a single white star.

"Clustering wishes will call out a new speed's horizon! Become the path its light shines upon!" Hikari chanted. "Synchro Summon! The power of hope, Synchro Tuner, Formula Synchron!"

The white star flashed and became a horizontal beam of white light. The light soon faded to reveal a small robot that resembled a green, white and red racecar. It had blue and white arms with black hands extending from its back wheels, and a pair of blue and white legs on its underside. The head inside the car's cockpit wore a blue helmet.

"Because I summoned Formula Synchron, I get to draw another card." Hikari announce. "Now I tune the level one Junk Mail into the level one Tune Jumper for another level two Synchro Summon!"

Junk Mail flashed orange and changed into a single green ring of light. The ring encircled the green-haired teleporter and changed her into a single white star.

"Clustering wills shall come together and break the barrier to a new speed's horizon! Become the path its light shines upon!" Hikari chanted. "Synchro Summon! The power of light, Synchro Tuner, Warship Synchron!"

The star flashed into a second horizontal beam of light. In moments the light faded to reveal Hikari's small robotic warship.

"Because I just summoned Warship Synchron, I get to draw another card." Hikari announced. "That ends my turn."

"Two Synchro Tuners?" Shark observed.

As Morphia drew her next card, Hikari closed her eyes. "Shining crystal dreams shall reverberate throughout the heavens and open the door to a golden future! Become the path its light shines upon!"

"Lilith Eternal, attack Stardust Dragon!" Morphia commanded. "Life Force…"

"Delta Accel!" Hikari called out, cutting Morphia off.

Before Lilith could launch an attack, Hikari's dragon and two robots took off in a streak of pinkish-red light. The force of their departure was so great that it shattered all of the crystal balls orbiting around Lilith Eternal. Less then a second later, a massive portal burst open behind Hikari and her two teammates and a huge ball of blinding gold light shot out of it into the air. Following after the gold light was an even smaller ball of blue light. The ball of gold light meanwhile hovered above the battlefield. The light from it caused Lilith Eternal to shriek in pain as smoke rose from her body.

The light from the golden ball faded a bit to reveal was producing it. It was a large golden dragon that greatly resembled Shooting Star Dragon. It had five long horns that grew backward from its head and six gold-feathered wings on its back. Its eyes were blue and it had a large blue diamond shape gem in its chest.

"Be born, Shining Sun Dragon!" Hikari called out.

The golden dragon roared and Morphia's eyes widened in shock for the first time in the duel. Meanwhile, the small ball of blue light that had followed Shining Sun Dragon flew down to hover next to Yuma.

"Stand up, Yuma!" a familiar voice spoke.

Yuma looked, and the ball of blue light changed into a humanoid figure made of blue energy. He had golden eyes and strange markings on parts of his body. The figure's arms were crossed over his chest.

"Astral…" Yuma spoke.

"Stand up!" the being known as Astral said again. "We're going to win!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** The only kind of duel that's even harder to write than tag duels are the asymmetrical duels involving two or three people against one. One big reason for that is because you want a certain character to do a certain critical move, but depending on where that character is in the rotation you have to figure out what moves the other characters are going to make in the meantime. Plus there's just the sheer length of the duel itself. I have the outline for this duel finished, but I still need to do a little editing to it. So stay tuned for what may or may not be the final chapter.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	16. Burning Life Force

**Author's Note:** So this turned out to be the final chapter after all. I wasn't sure if I could wrap everything up in this one chapter of if I needed to do an epilogue. Anyway, I hope everyone's enjoyed the ride so far. He's the epic conclusion.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

Chapter 15: Burning Life Force

"So, the envoy of Astral World has returned." Morphia observed.

"I had hoped that I would not have to face you again, Morphia." Astral replied. "Perhaps it would have been better if I had destroyed you in our last battle."

"You would have, if you had been strong enough." Morphia pointed out. "But even with the help you had, the best you could do was seal me and my people away."

"Astral you really fought Morphia a long time ago?" Yuma asked.

"Yes. It was not long before my original battle with Don Thousand." Astral began. "Morphia and her people infiltrated Astral World in order to drain its energy in the hopes of Ranking Up into a higher form. I opposed them and fought Morphia face-to-face. I would have lost if not for the intervention of a child of the Numeron Dragon."

"You mean the Crimson Dragon?" Hikari asked.

"It was with that dragon's help that I was able to at least seal Morphia and her kind away." Astral confirmed. "For some reason, the Crimson Dragon's light caused Morphia pain. But now after following Shining Sun Dragon's path through dimensions I have come to finish what I should have done long ago!"

"You are too late, Envoy." Morphia told him. "Shining Sun Dragon may have 4200 ATK points, but it is no match for Lilith Eternal."

"Don't be so sure." Hikari told her. "In case you haven't noticed, Lilith Eternal's ATK has become zero. That's because when Shining Sun Dragon is summoned, he negates the effects of all other special summoned monsters on the field and reduces their ATK to nothing."

"What?" Morphia exclaimed.

"That's not all." Hikari continued. "When summoned, Shining Sun Dragon also detaches the overlay units from Xyz Monsters on the field, and for each one removed we gain 400 life points for each one."

"Which means we now have 4000 life points." Shark added.

Morphia scowled. "I activate the Spell, Lighting Vortex! I discard one card and destroy your wretched Sun Dragon!"

Several bolts of yellow lighting rained down from the sky towards Shining Sun Dragon. But just as they were about to strike they suddenly fizzled out.

"Nice try, but as long as Shining Sun Dragon is on the field, effects that destroy other cards are negated." Hikari explained.

"…Fine then." Morphia replied. "I shall set one card on the field and end my turn."

Shark drew his next card. "I summon Starfish in Attack Mode!" A large red and black starfish with a yellow core appeared on the field. "Now I sacrifice Starfish to summon Sharkraken!"

The starfish shattered apart, and in its place appeared a large purple shark with four small red eyes. Trailing from its long fins were several long squid-like tentacles.

"I may not have many Xyz Monsters left, but I can still do some major damage with the other monsters in my deck!" Shark told Morphia. "But first things first. Shining Sun Dragon, take down Lilith Eternal with Shooting Star Flare!"

Shining Sun Dragon roared and took off towards Lilith Eternal like a comet. The undead goddess was vaporized in the resulting explosion, and Morphia's life points dropped to 15100.

"And now another one of Shining Sun Dragon's effects kicks in!" Hikari announced. "When he destroys a monster in battle, we gain life points equal to that monster's DEF!"

Shining Sun Dragon spiraled back up into the air and caused several sparking lights to rain down on the battlefield. The light caused the team's life points to rise to 7600.

"Sharkraken, attack Morphia directly!" Shark commanded. "Shark Squid Whip!"

Sharkraken flew towards Morphia and turned away at the last minute, causing the undead goddess to be struck by one of the long tentacles on its fins. Morphia's life points dropped further to 12700.

"I end my turn!" Shark announced.

"Alright Yuma, it's up to us now." Astral told him.

"Let's do it!" Yuma replied.

With that, Yuma changed into a ball of red light and shot up into the air with Astral, who had transformed into a blue light. The two balls of light collided to reveal Yuma in a new form. His hair had grown into glowing gold spikes and he wore glowing gold and red armor. As Yuma drew his next card, it shined with a golden light.

"I summon Ganbara Knight in Attack Mode!" Yuma announced.

Appearing on the battlefield next to Gagaga Magician was a knight clad in burgundy and gold armor. On each of its arms was a large green shield with gold trim.

"I overlay the level four Ganbara Knight and the level four Gagaga Magician to Xyz Summon Number 39: Utopia!" Yuma announced.

A large vortex in the form of a spiraling galaxy appeared in the center of the battlefield. Yuma's two monsters changed into balls of golden energy and were sucked in. Rising out of the center of the vortex moments later was a large object that looked like an ornate white and gold sword with two balls of golden light orbiting around it. The sword unfolded and took on the shape of a warrior with white armor trimmed with gold. On its head was a helmet with three golden horns, and on its back was a folded pair of white metal wings. Written on the large piece of armor on his left shoulder in red was the number, 39.

"An impressive-looking monster." Morphia admitted. "A pity you can't use a Rank-Up card to evolve it into a stronger form thanks to Morphia's Law."

"You don't need to Rank Up an Xyz Monster to evolve it." Yuma told her. "All you have to do is believe! I use Utopia to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number C39: Utopia Ray!"

Utopia folded back into his white sword form and vanished into the very vortex he had emerged from. Rising out a moment later was another large object in the form of an ornate black and gold sword with three golden balls of light orbiting around it. The sword unfolded and changed into a new warrior clad in black armor with gold trim similar to Utopia's original form. His new helmet had a mask-like face with a single horn on the forehead. On his back in between his wings was a large black sword.

"From my hand, I equip Utopia Ray with the monster, ZW-Cerberus Fangs!" Yuma announced.

Appearing on the battlefield was a mechanical red and gold dog with three heads. Each of the heads had a pair of green eyes and a mouth full of golden fangs. As the dog charge towards Utopia Ray, the black knight drew the two swords hanging at his waist. The pieces of armor on his shoulders formed into two large mechanical arms that drew the large sword on his back. The three-headed dog then split into three golden balls of light that struck Utopia Ray's three blades. Each of the weapons turned into a golden sword with a red crossguard in the shape of a dog's head.

"Since he's equipped with Cerberus Fangs, Utopia Ray gains 1300 ATK." Yuma explained. "But more on that later. For now I attack directly with Sharkraken! Shark Squid Whip!"

Sharkraken flew at Morphia again and turned away at the last minute. Morphia was struck by one of the sea creature's tentacles and her life points dropped to 10300.

"Shining Sun Dragon, attack Morphia again with Shooting Star Flare!" Yuma commanded.

Shining Sun Dragon flew in at full speed and collided with Morphia, causing a large explosion. When the smoke cleared, Morphia's life points had fallen to 6100.

"And now… Utopia Ray, attack Morphia directly!" Yuma ordered. "Sun Fang Chaos Slash!"

Utopia Ray charged in and slashed Morphia with all three of his swords. Morphia cried out as she was hit and her life points fell again to 2300.

"Now the effect of Cerberus Fangs kicks in!" Yuma announced. "When Utopia Ray's attack does damage to my opponent's life points, Cerberus Fangs deals 400 points of damage for each card in my Graveyard! Right now I have five, so you take another 2000 points of damage!"

Utopia Ray slashed Morphia with his blades a second time, nearly knocking her off the platform of light they were all standing on. Her life points took another plunge to 300.

"Yeah! They've finally got Morphia on the ropes!" Alit cheered. "One more attack and that's it!"

"I end my turn!" Yuma announced. "Finish it, Hikari!"

Hikari drew her next card. "Shining Sun Dragon, attack Morphia directly! Shooting Star Flare!"

An expression of pure anger formed on Morphia's face as the golden dragon began to fly towards her. "I activate my Trap, Morphia's Rage!"

Just as Hikari's dragon was about to strike, an intense blast of crackling blue energy shot from Morphia's Trap and struck every monster on the team's side of the battlefield. The three balls of light orbiting Utopia Ray suddenly flew off and hit Hikari, Shark and Yuma, causing three small explosions. The blast ended after a moment, and when the smoke finally cleared, the team's life points had fallen to 6100.

"What just happened?" a confused Hikari asked.

"When I would take a direct attack that would reduce my life points to zero, Morphia's Wrath negates that attack and ends the Battle Phase." Morphia explained. "Furthermore, it detaches all overlay units from Xyz Monsters you control and deals 500 points of damage for each one."

"Damn!" Vector cursed from the ground. "And they were so close!"

"Great! Now what?" Shark asked.

"There's not much more we can do." Hikari replied. "I'll set one card on the field and end my turn."

"And thus begins mine!" Morphia declared. "But rather than draw from my deck, I activate another effect of Eternal Morphia Force from the Graveyard and return it to my hand!" The card flew from the Graveyard slot on her duel disk into her hand. "I activate Rank-Up-Magic Eternal Morphia Force and revive Lilith Eternal in order to elevate her to her ultimate form!"

A crystal coffin containing Lilith Eternal appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Sharkraken suddenly turned into a ball of red light and was pulled into the crystal, followed by the other non-Xyz Monsters in Shark's Graveyard. All the non-Synchro and Xyz Monsters in Yuma and Hikari's Graveyards were pulled in as well.

"Awaken… Dead Star Goddess Lilith Supreme!" Morphia called out.

The crystal coffin shattered apart with an explosion of red light. The light faded after a moment to reveal Lilith in a new form. Her skin had turned a bright reddish-pink, and all her armor had turned black. The goddess' once yellow eyes had turned blood red, and on her back was a pair of red transparent butterfly wings. Orbiting around the revived goddess were sixteen crystal spheres leaving trails of red light.

"A rank thirteen monster?" Hikari exclaimed. "I didn't know there was such a thing!"

"The original ATK of Lilith Supreme is zero, so I gain no life points from Eternal Morphia Force's effect." Morphia revealed. "But Lilith Supreme gains 1000 ATK for each overlay unit attached to her."

"But… that means…" a horrified Shark realized.

"Correct. Lilith Supreme currently has 16000 ATK." Mophia confirmed. "Lilith, obliterate the Signer's foul dragon and end this duel! End of Life Surge!"

"I activate a Trap, Half Shield!" Hikari quickly announced.

Lilith Supreme extended her arms and fired a massive blast of red energy at Shining Sun Dragon. The dragon was struck by the blast and exploded, washing out the team's side of the battlefield in smoke. When the smoke finally cleared, the team still had 200 life points left.

"You insects are beginning to annoy me." Morphia told them. "How is it you were able to survive?"

"Half Shield cut the damage from your last attack in half." Hikari explained. "It didn't leave us with much, but this duel's not over yet!"

"Then it seems I'll have to draw your suffering out a little longer." Morphia replied. "Since Lilith Supreme did damage to your life points, I can detach one of her overlay units to force you to discard every card in your hands."

One of the crystal spheres orbiting Lilith shattered, and the undead goddess shot three balls of red light from the palms of her hands. The spheres hit the cards in all three team members' hands, causing them to fly on their own into their Graveyards.

"For each card you discarded by this effect, I gain 1000 life points." Morphia continued. Her life points rose to 8300. "I end my turn, which means another one of Lilith's effects activates. At this time, any non-Synchro and Xyz Monsters in my opponent's Graveyard are attached to Lilith Supreme as overlay units, raising her attack even higher."

Suddenly five balls of red light flew from Hikari's Graveyard and changed into crystal spheres. The spheres began to orbit around Lilith Supreme along with the rest of the goddess' overlay units.

"No way!" Cathy spoke. "Morphia just turned everything completely around in that one turn!"

"How are Yuma and the others going to beat a monster with 20000 ATK points?" Alit wondered.

"Go ahead and make your final moves." Morphia told the team. "Nothing you do now will change the outcome of this duel."

Shark drew his next card. "I set one card on the field and end my turn."

Yuma and Astral split back apart, causing Yuma to return to his original form. Yuma then drew his next card. "Well, there's nothing I can do. You're up, Hikari."

"Are you two serious?" Shark asked.

"Yuma and I have done all that we can in this duel." Astral replied. "The only one who can put an end to this now is Hikari."

"You hear that Hikari? We're counting on ya!" Yuma cheerfully told her.

"The envoy and that child seem to have much faith in you, Signer." Morphia remarked. "A shame it's misplaced."

"We'll see about that!" Hikari responded as she drew her next card. "I activate another one of Shining Sun Dragon's effects! By banishing it from the Graveyard, I can add a Dragon-type Tuner to my hand! So I'm going to draw out a monster that's going to help take you down!"

With that, the mark on Hikari's arm began to glow. A glowing red card popped out from towards the bottom of her deck.

Hikari pulled out the card. "I summon Red Star Dragon in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a small red serpentine dragon with golden eyes. On its forehead was a small golden star.

"I activate Red Star Dragon's effect!" Hikari announced. "By discarding one card, I can add a Dragon monster from either my own Graveyard or my opponent's to my hand. And I choose the one dragon in your Graveyard that's not an Xyz Monster!"

Red Star Dragon roared and a beam of gold light shot from the star on its forehead and hit Morphia's duel disk. A single card glowing with a golden aura flew from the Graveyard slot to Hikari's waiting hand.

"I activate my Trap, Xyz Reborn!" Shark announced. "With this card, I bring Black Ray Lancer back to the field!"

Shark's aquatic dark spearman reappeared on the battlefield in his original form. His large Trap card changed into a single ball of blue light that began to orbit around him.

"I sacrifice Utopia Ray and Black Ray Lancer to summon the dragon of light!" Hikari announced. Yuma and Shark's two monsters shattered apart and a familiar red cross appeared in Hikari's hand. "Awaken as your true self, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"

Hikari threw the cross in the air, causing it to explode with a flash of blue light. The light faded a bit, and Kaito's original dragon descended to the battlefield.

"What do you expect to do with that pitiful dragon?" Morphia asked.

"I don't know Kaito Tenjo all that well, but I know that this dragon is the symbol of his true self before you used his love for Droite to try and corrupt him." Hikari replied. "And it's also the card that's going to destroy you once and for all! I tune the level four Red Star Dragon into the level eight Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon for a level twelve Synchro Summon!"

Red Star Dragon roared and changed into four rings made of crimson light. The rings encircled Photon Dragon, causing the color of light from his body to turn red.

"Clustering crimson stars will come together to awaken the dragon whose cries shake the universe! Create the path its light shines upon!" Hikari chanted. "Synchro Summon! Burst to life, Galaxy-Eyes Crimson Photon Dragon!"

The rings around Photon Dragon shrank and went into his body, causing him to explode with a flash of golden light. The light cleared, and Photon Dragon had grown to twice his original size. His body was glowing with a deep crimson light and the armor on his armor had changed to shimmering gold. The wings on the dragon's back had become like those of the Crimson Dragon's, and on his chest was a green gem in the shape of the Crimson Dragon's heart. With his transformation completed, Photon Dragon cried out with the same roar as the Crimson Dragon's.

"That… that dragon!" Morphia exclaimed as her eyes widened in horror.

"That beast seems to be a fusion between the Crimson Dragon and Photon Dragon." Mizael realized.

"But it only has 5000 ATK." Alit pointed out. "I mean it's a cool dragon and all, but how can it beat Morphia's monster?"

"I activate Crimson Photon Dragon's effect!" Hikari announced. "Once per turn I can target one Xyz Monster my opponent controls and detach all of its overlay units! And for each one removes, Crimson Photon Dragon gains 500 ATK until the end of the turn!"

Crimson Photon Dragon roared and caused the crystal orbs surrounding Lilith Supreme to shatter and become balls of golden light. The lights entered the gem on Crimson Photon Dragon's chest and raised his ATK to 15000. Meanwhile, the ATK of Lilith Supreme dropped to zero.

"This… this can't be!" a horrified Lilith denied. "How can this have happened?"

"This is for every single thing whose life you took!" Hikari proclaimed. "Crimson Photon Dragon, destroy Lilith Supreme! Photon Stream of Creation!"

The dragon reared back its head and fired a stream of crimson light from his jaws. The blast vaporized Lilith Supreme in a second and continued on to strike Morphia. The vampire goddess screamed in pain as her own body faded to nothing and her life points plunged to zero. Suddenly, Morphia's ship exploded in a flash of blinding red light. When the light of the explosion faded, Crimson Photon Dragon vanished and the duel finally came to an end. The platform of light the team had been standing on set them back on the ground and vanished. The rest of the group ran over to where the four stood.

"Awesome job, you guys!" Alit told them. "We knew you could do it!"

"Yes, but… the city's still dead." Durbe noticed.

"Wait, you mean defeating Morphia didn't do anything to bring everyone else back?" a horrified Yuma asked.

"We did save the rest of the world though. That's something." Hikari pointed out.

"Fear not, Yuma." Astral spoke. "All is far from lost."

With that, Astral held out his hand. Appearing to float just above his palm was a strange card made of blue light.

"Oh yeah. The Numeron Code!" Yuma realized.

"With this, I can return everything to almost exactly how it was before Morphia's influence took root." Astral told them.

"What about Kaito and Droite?" Shark asked.

"They shall return as well." Astral confirmed. "And there will be no danger of Droite ever becoming a vampire again. Though she, and perhaps others may bare physical signs of their time as vampires."

"What sort of signs?" Durbe asked.

"That, I cannot say." Astral answered. "But there is another consequence to all this. Once I use the code, I will have to return to Astral World."

"Already? But you just got back!" Yuma told him.

Astral smiled. "Do not worry, Yuma. We will meet again."

"Well… okay." Yuma replied.

With that, Astral raised the card for the Numeron Code in the air. "Deus ex machina!"

A blinding flash of blue light shined from the code and washed out the entire area. When the light faded, Astral was gone and Hikari and the others quickly noticed that the lights of the city had turned back on. It seemed that everything had returned to normal.

At that moment, Kotori emerged from the building and began to run towards the others. "Yuma!"

Yuma responded by turning and running to Kotori. "Kotori, I WHAA?"

Yuma stopped mid-run when he noticed something different about Kotori. It took Hikari and the others a moment to notice too. It seemed that Kotori's bust was still the same size it was when she was a vampire, one of the "physical signs" that Astral had mentioned earlier. This change was made even more noticeable by the fact that Kotori also had on her original outfit from before her transformation, an outfit that didn't quite fit her new frame. The mere sight of Kotori's new look caused Alit's jaw to hang open and a drop of blood to bleed from his nose.

"What's everybody…?" Kotori began to ask. But when she looked down and saw what was different about her. "What the… Yuma, did you have something to do with this?"

"What? No! Honest!" Yuma swore. "You see Astral came back and brought everyone back with the Numeron Code, and…"

"And you asked him to give me a boob job while he was at it?" Kotori assumed.

"No! Of course not!" Yuma insisted. "And even if I did, you know Astral wouldn't go along with it!"

"I'm not so sure! You probably corrupted him during his time on Earth!" Kotori replied.

"Kotori, I swear it's not like that!" Yuma insisted. "Shark, Hikari, help me out here!"

"You're on your own, Yuma." Shark told him as he walked off with Hikari. "I'm going to bed."

"Yeah, it's been a pretty long night." Hikari agreed.

The others soon followed after Hikari and Shark. Though Gilag had to drag Alit off by the collar. This left Yuma to try and explain to try and explain Kotori's accidental endowment on his own. At that moment, he was wishing Astral would return so he could chew the energy being out.

* * *

Kaito awoke on the floor of the lab wearing his usual black outfit. He found Droite unconscious on the floor a few feet away wearing a black leather jacket with a violet shirt with a short black skirt.

Alarmed, Kaito quickly went over and shook Droite by the shoulder. "Droite! Wake up!"

After a moment, Droite groaned a little and opened her eyes. "Kaito?"

"You okay?" Kaito asked.

"I think so." Droite answered as she sat up. "I… I also remember everything that's happened."

"You mean about when we were vampires?" Kaito asked. "Yeah, I remember all that too."

"How could we… how could I have done all that?" Droite spoke. "I almost destroyed the entire world."

"That wasn't your fault. You were being manipulated by Morphia." Kaito pointed out.

"But Kaito… like it not, she was my mother." Droite reminded him. "And I…"

"Look Droite, I know what's it's like to be manipulated by a parent into doing something bad." Kaito told her. "Besides, if I'm right, Yuma and the others just fixed everything that we did."

"But… don't you think I'm a monster now?" Droite asked.

"If you are, then so am I." Kaito answered. "So don't worry about it, okay?"

Droite smiled as a tear came to her eye. "Okay."

With that, Kaito got back to his feet and held out his hand. "C'mon. We should probably get you to bed. You can either go back you your hotel, or you could stay at my place."

As Droite let Kaito pull her up, she glanced down and noticed that his package was a little bigger than she remembered. She then recalled the little enhancement she had given Kaito when she first took him to the bedchamber only hours ago. Suddenly an idea popped into the butterfly duelist's mind.

"Kaito… I'm not really in the mood for sleep right now." Droite told him as she removed her jacket, letting it fall carelessly to the ground.

Droite then removed her shirt and tossed it away, leaving her in her purple bra. Kaito felt his pants becoming a bit tighter.

"Well, I guess we could stay up a little longer." Kaito agreed with a smirk.

Kaito walked up to Droite and pulled her into a tight embrace. Their mouths became locked together as their tongues began to mingle. Somewhere along the line as they kissed, Kaito had pushed Droite up against the wall of the lab. When they broke for air, Droite hurriedly unzipped Kaito's pants, freeing his hardened erection. Kaito hiked up Droite's skirt and pushed the crotch of her panties aside, allowing him to push his rod into her. Droite moaned and wrapped her legs around Kaito's waist, signaling him to thrust into her at full force.

Droite became lost in the feeling of Kaito's hard shaft pumping into her. The one truly good thing that had come from their existence as vampires is that she had been able to tell Kaito how she truly felt about him, and that he felt the same way. The whole incident had brought them closer to one another than they had ever been before. As Kaito continued bucking his hips into Droite, he suddenly picked up his pace. They probably would've broken through the wall if it weren't made of metal. Droite and Kaito could both feel them selves coming close to the edge.

With one last hard thrust from Kaito, the two of them managed to climax at the same time. As they caught their breath, they smiled and rested their foreheads against one another.

"You know… I think I'll stay at your place tonight." Droite decided.

* * *

Two days had gone by since the vampire incident. Since that time, the city of Heartland had been very peaceful. It seemed that no one besides Kaito and Droite remembered anything from their time as vampires. Droite had also decided to quite her job as Gauche's manager to stay in the city in order to be closer to Kaito. This had caused a few problems with Gauche, but in the end he agreed to this change without much fuss.

Evening was approaching, and Hikari and Shark were waiting at a café for Kaito and Droite to show up. Hikari had decided that they should have a double date and see a movie together. It was only just a few minutes before Droite and Kaito were due to show up.

"Why are we doing this again?" Shark asked.

"I thought this would be a good way for me to get to know some of your friends." Hikari answered.

"Guess this means we might be doing the same thing with Yuma and Kotori at some point." Shark assumed. "Assume Kotori ever starts speaking to Yuma again."

"Is she still fuming about that whole thing about her chest?" Hikari asked.

"Yeah. From what I hear, she still doesn't entirely believe that it was an accident on Astral's part." Shark answered. "…So, how much longer are you going to be staying in Heartland?"

"Not sure. But I don't think you have to worry about me leaving anytime soon." Hikari replied.

"You staying just because of me?" Shark asked.

"Most of the reason." Hikari answered. "I'm also staying because Kaito and Christopher intend to keep experimenting with that portal device of theirs. I thought it might be a good idea if I stuck around to make sure nothing went wrong."

"That's probably a good idea, considering everything that just happened." Shark replied.

"What's a good idea?" a familiar voice asked. Hikari and Shark turned to see Kaito standing before them with Droite.

"I just heard that you plan to do more experiments with that portal creator of yours." Shark explained. "If something shoots out of one of those portals and turns Gauche into a werewolf, I am so gonna kick your ass."

"I'd like to see you try." Kaito dared.

"Speaking of Gauche, is he back on the road yet?" Hikari asked, quickly changing the subject.

"He left this morning." Droite answered. "It might take him awhile for him to find a manager that he likes. In the meantime, I just landed a job as a duel instructor at Heartland Academy."

"Wow! That's great!" Hikari enthusiastically told her. "Congrats!"

"Thanks." Droite replied.

"So what movie are we going to see anyway?" Shark asked.

"Orbital gave me this pamphlet for a new theater that's just opened up." Kaito answered, pulling the paper from his pocket. "It looks like they're showing mostly old horror movies though."

"One of those might be okay." Hikari replied as she took the pamphlet and started reading. "Let's see… _Lifeforce_. A team of astronauts discovers a ship containing vampires in… yeah, no. That's not gonna happen." She looked at the next film listed. "Oh, here's a movie called _Cat People_. It's about a woman who turns into a panther."

"I'm not sure about that one. We might run into Mizael and Cathy there." Shark assumed.

"Mizael and Cathy. I sure didn't see that one coming." Kaito remarked.

"You're telling me." Shark replied.

"This one looks interesting. _Project Metalbeast_." Hikari continued. "According to the description, a bunch of military scientists give a werewolf metal skin and it escapes."

"That sounds kinda cool." Shark replied.

"It might be entertaining I guess." Kaito agreed.

"I'm fine with any movie as long as it doesn't have vampires." Droite replied. "I think Kaito and I have had enough of vampires to last a lifetime."

FIN

* * *

**Afterward:** Well, I hope everyone enjoyed reading this little tale of mine. Chances are it's not the best thing I've ever written. Heck, I pretty much just used the plot from _Lifeforce_ and added dueling. By the way, the other movies mentioned in this final chapter, _Cat People_ and _Project Metalbeast_, are also real films. Anyway, there are probably a few things in this story that I could've done better. Still, I really enjoyed working on this story. It's helped me work through some of the stuff that's happened in my life recently, like the death of my cat.

I would like to take a moment to apologize for a couple of things about this chapter. First, I'm sorry if anyone was offended by that bit concerning Kotori's bust. My sense of humor can be a little twisted at times. I also kind of apologize for Astral saying "deus ex machina" when he used the Numeron Code. I just couldn't resist putting that in. Just chalk it up as the result of me watching too many episodes of _The Simpsons_.

I'd also like to thank everyone who's read and reviewed this story. I'd especially like to thank K.I.T.T. RIDER, who's done several good anxietyshipping stories of her own. I'm happy that this one appealed to her. Anyway, while this story may be over, I plan to do some other ZEXAL stories in the future. Right now I'm developing a story that shows what Rio was up to during the events of this story. Depending on how things go, I may be able to get that one up next week. So again, thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited of followed this story.

Please review and let me know what you think.


End file.
